"Actually, we are here to see the gold fish. I have not seen one fish since we've been down here. You sir, are a sham!"
Miana recognizes the metal coating the Azlanti man as mithral; what exactly this would do when coating a person's skin and not merely acting as a piece of armor is beyond her knowledge though.
"Fish? You are concerned about fish? Well, you shall join them then, dwarf!"
"Really I would not *squeak* aggravate the dwarf. He is rather emotional when *shhh* upset."
Kufieno cocks an eyebrow at the back and forth, then moves into the room and casts a spell, sending a lightning bolt at the metal man.
Kufieno dispenses with the niceties and sends a bolt through the man which seems to be amplified by his metallic exterior and yet doesn't cause the man any harm. "My affairs are not only none of your concern but they are beyond your puny comprehension." Ordikon then casts a quick spell which multiplies his appearance ( images) and then follows this with a streak of dust which flies through the air at Miana!
"Perhaps, *chhh* perhaps not."
Rissi focuses on the mithral man, imagining the veins running beneath his metallic-clad body. She imagines the nerves running from there to his brain... misfiring, seizing up against their own volition, holding him still.
Lucian moves forward and blesses his companions with a renewed fervor!
"Lady Luck, guide our hearts to greatness!"
The Mithral Mage fights off Rissi's mind control as Lucian gives his familiar blessing over the party.
ongoing: blessing of fervor
"What? I'm not upset? Who said I was upset? Is that thin green ray a bad thing? In any case, I want you to meet my friend, Isoult, Mr. Shiny Dude."
After Miana does all the heavy lifting of removing most of the images, Sealman charges forward and crashes into the brawl that is ongoing between the Mithral Mage & Champion of Irori.
Miana is surprised that the Mage's defenses are quite formidable. She manages to pop three of his images and hit him once, but her strike only cracks his hard skin. Seal then charges in and shows Miana how to do it by slicing his blade through all of them at once until it bites hard onto something real.
ongoing: blessing of fervor
With his lightning spell less than successful, Kufieno ponders his place in the universe as the Mithral Mage steps away and unleashes a colorful blast on everyone but Rissi.
Miana is hit by a yellow ray tinged with sparks.
Kufieno is hit by an indigo ray and feels his mind slipping away.
Seal is hit by a violet ray and feels himself being pulled elsewhere.
Lucian is hit with an orange ray which sears his skin.
ongoing: blessing of fervor
Rissi quickly casts a greater dispel magic, attempting to render the defen
Sealman flies into a rage as the prismatic spray washes over him.
Sealman fights off the urge step through the doors of eternity and grounds his mind in the here and now. Shaking off the spell, Sealman steps forward and swings at the magi with all his might.
Rissi quickly casts a greater dispel magic, attempting to render the defen
...ses of the wizard null and void.
Lucian dodges most of the acidic blast coming his way, and prepares to counter the shiny mage's next spell.
Kufieno manages to shake off the indigo ray, then springs forward, flying up and over the table, and to the mage. Still in the air, Kufieno swings down with his weapon.
Rissi casts a spell and before your eyes: POOF! Goodbye, images! Goodbye, stoneskin! Seal then hits the mage hard and Miana wipes him up with little trouble!
7th prismatic spray, reverse gravity
6th disintegrate, flesh to stone, greater dispel magic
5th baleful polymorph, cone of cold, dismissal, wall of force
[b]4th dimension door, fear, mass reduce person, stonesin, and every transmutation spell from the CRB
3rd and below all spells excluding enchantment and illusion spells
The research books scattered around this room are worth a total of 10 000 gp. They detail various experiments and partial notes on the conundrum of transmuting lead into gold. Looking through these books you also discover notes and descriptions of the solution the Lords of Greed hit upon to protect Karzoug from the fall of Thassilon. By building a runewell larger than any before, Karzoug could place himself in stasis between realities, suspended between Golarion and a hostile plane called Leng. Once the dust settled, the plan was for one of Karzoug's apprentices to release him. The details of this process are not recorded, unfortunately.
"A wizard stripped of magic... is a squeak poor thing indeed. Now we seem to hew close to the heels of the enemy - find the runewell, and we may find Karzoug."
The ratfolk does a quick inventory in her head, then pulls back her hood; streaks of grey seem to be more prominent within the black fur, perhaps signs of the ongoing stress of the magical battles.
"If the domain of Envy is chitter destroyed, it seems only the magic of Sloth - conjuration - is yet to be overcome. Let us be done with it, and this place."
"Well done, everyone! Yet another evil mastermind put at rest, does that leave us with one more? Yes, let's venture there and hope we don't fall prey to that very sin. I can't imagine that a wing kept by slothful mages is a great place to visit."
Beyond the workshop is a wide hall floored in polished wooden planks, its walls covered in colorful jade tiles. The ceiling is made of lustrous stone that reflects the light three decorative lanterns, that brightly illuminate ten gleaming golden statues of men and women in various poses of combat readiness that stand along the walls.
A great demon stalks the room, a towering, corpulent beast with the hideous head of a boar and arms ending in fatty, four-fingered hands. "Halt!" the demon shouts in Abyssal and then again in Draconic. "A deal! I am bound here, have been bound here for many ages. But if you free me I promise you a great reward."
After opening the door and having translated what the demon said, Sealman turn to the party, "Hey, what did we do last time this came up? I say we do the opposite!"
"I am unsure what chhhh the opposite would be, exactly. You gave of yourself to save a town, quite squeak noble, in fact." The ratfolk giggles, although it sounds more like hiss. "I suppose you could lay waste to a settlement and let it free."
She calms down after a few moments of her private joke. "But please do not"
Lucian offers a deal to the demon, replying in Abyssal.
"A deal can be struck, fiend. State your name first, and your terms - including the aid you can provide us in return for our help. Know this - I can send you back to your home plane with a plane shift if that is your desire, but we will expect meaningful help in return for it. However, we will not release you onto the Prime Material Plane."
"No, no, the one we met by the dam? What was its name? Dom, Danny, Danielle? Oh Shale, I might as well as him.
"Did you know Dan the damned demon down by the dam?"
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Miana finds dealing with demons distasteful... but her paladin code prevents her from engaging in hostilities with someone wishing to parlay. Lucian's words, though, do bring some calm and at least the idea of removing a potential threat from their realm would be satisfactory, smiling at her Varisian friend before looking at the demon intently.
Kufineo listens to the demon, but allows Lucian and Rissi makes the decision. Glancing at Seal, Kufi chews on his lower lip as he tries to remember the demon.
"A deal can be struck, fiend. State your name first, and your terms - including the aid you can provide us in return for our help. Know this - I can send you back to your home plane with a plane shift if that is your desire, but we will expect meaningful help in return for it. However, we will not release you onto the Prime Material Plane."
The demon grins at Lucian and snarls, "One with sense, yes, finally! You may call me Zuvuzeg. Many years have I been bound here against my will, debasing myself in an attempt to escape the cruel term of my permanent servitude, which was that I be allowed to return home only after I successfully made the wizard Izomandakus laugh, cry, shriek, and cheer by using nothing more than the power of my storytelling ability. Laugh, cry, and cheer I had accomplished but the weak mortal died before I could complete my quest and now I wish for nothing more than to leave this place. I would gladly accept your banishment."
The demon pauses for a moment, contemplating how much more to reveal. "As for what I will give you in return? Indifference. I won't attack you or prevent you from doing whatever you wish in this chamber and without. I will leave this place and forget your existence. That should be reward enough."
"Then so be it. By the will of the Traveller among Worlds, I banish thee!" utters Lucian as he casts the fateful spell.
"Wait, before you go, what was your quest? Your story? Mind if you tell us some?
Kufieno listens to the demon with a skeptic's ear.
"What a strange deal." Rissi muses.
"I would rather not," the demon replies sardonically to Seal. He nods to Lucian and accepts the banishment.
In the final chamber beyond the demon, silver beams support the domed ceiling which is covered in polished darkwood panels inlaid with spiky glyphs. Most of the chamber's floor ripples in an immense, forty-foot-diameter pool of deep blue liquid. Flashes of lightning and gouts of flame dance along its surface, punctuated by thunderclaps, hisses, and cacophonous shrieks. Vague shapes writhe in the currents below the pool's surface.
"Interesting... this is useful. A pool of chhhh raw magic. It could be used, at some risk to ones soul, as a fuel source for magic weapons. It would require a great force of will, however. It is also what we neep need for a runeforged weapon. I have already expended my abjuration magic - perhaps, Lucian, you might suppress it with your more bountiful resources? A dispel magic, perhaps."
She fishes a wand of enervation out and stirs it in the water.
"Very well. Magic, begone!"
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Lucian suppresses the magic for only a moment, as the pool is very powerful indeed. Rissi scoops up some of the water to save for later.
Though Seal doesn't seem to notice or mind, the air grows thick and foul-smelling in the chamber before you, yet the vaporous stink here is nothing compared to the insult to the senses elsewhere. Slime encrusts the walls in swaths of sickly brown and noxious green. A foamy sewage channel runs along a slippery walkway, the thickly shuddering skin atop the slowly churning fluid seeming to hint that, despite its repulsive appearance and smell, something lurks in those depths.
"So...uh, Miss Riss, are you able to make runeforge weapons now? Can you turn Isoult into a runeforge weapon? What exactly can a runeforge weapon do?"
Sealman draws out his greatclub, taps it with his Lead Blades wand, and begins to start poking the fluid. He tries to take note if anything has been through here recently and what it maybe.
Thunderpuss on the other hand crinkles up his nose and tries to avoid any dampness possible.
"At least some flavors of them, yes. I require some time to work out the details."
"In the meantime, I wish for some sort of mask for this awful stench". She flicks her whiskers and covers her mouth. "What wizard would live in this? Too lazy to clean I suppose."
Seal doesn't note any signs of passage or movement but sees that the sludge is not too deep that it couldn't be walked through (at least for everyone but Rissi), although it would be quite unpleasant.
Thunderpuss kneels down to allow Rissi to ride him, if she wishes. Otherwise, once the party is ready, Sealman recommends taking the "north western" tunnel first.
Rissi waves off the ride. "No thank you. I prefer to squeak fly." She takes a moment to recast her usual set of magical augmentations before proceeding.
"If someone else wishes, I can give them the boon of flight as well, if only temporarily."
Seal slogs through the sludge with the others behind him, either wading or flying, and the party comes to a room where a slippery walkway connects four platforms running down the room's center to a station of some sort at the far end. There, three large and filthy levers protrude from the dripping wall. To the north, four metallic pipes protrude from the wall, ten feet above the level of the sewage-fresh foulness runs from these pipes in thick streams. Every now and then, something larger and hideously more substantial than mere fluid strains through the bars blocking these pipes to drop with a turgid splash into the foulness rippling below.