|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The danse de bibliothèque continues below...
...the bookshelf with the odd and colorful collection of tomes grabbing Amenopheus's static form and passing it to the table...
...in front of Vladek, who approaches and descends to the tabletop, and attempts to twist the div's personal timeline into a punishing causality loop before entering Amenopheus's mindscape!
|
An enemy being moved by a reposition does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Reposition feat. You cannot move a creature into a square that is occupied by a solid object or obstacle.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Out of the mindscape, Evad darts along the wall, delivering a parting shot to the diamond sage if it delivers one first. He makes a sharp turn and leaps over the open pit, landing on the edge he reaches out for the Lich's sage jewel.
Teetering on the edge of the pit, Evad reaches out and touches the amethyst jewel to enter another mindscape.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As the pit opens, the battlefield shifts.
The dire tiger reclamps onto his previous victim with preternatural haste and pins him to the wall. Dhiara charges her dragon-friend attempting to prevent her deadly breath. Theodric downs another potion to prepare for the final showdown.
Magor extends his fragile canopy as the elementals (and Grandmaster Torch!) circle the hapless div and attack, causing its hideous pelt to flare up again in a cloud of debris.
"You try so hard, elf, but silly tumbling through the air will not help me focus on the many tasks at hand. Why don't you go practice your katas or something, be useful." The dragon woman whines with a dismissive wave of her claw.
----------------------
"Who am I? Who.. am.. I? Why I am one of the greatest knowledge seekers in all of Garund. It was my hubris that led me to the dreaded deeds I performed to preserve the knowledge that packed my thoughts. But was is not Tahari who guided me, filled my soul with evil, fed my delusions of grandeur?" The lich stammers as he flips through books with fuzzy writings that disappear when focused upon.
----------------------
Vladek curses the div then weaves in through the scrambling furniture to enter Amenepheous mindscape. Just as he does Qadathra and Evad exit their own and simultaneously switch mindscapes.
Khemet III turns away in disgust. Grandmaster Torch enters and presents two sage jewels, one deep green and the other brilliant yellow. Amenopheus eagerly trades everything he has for them, only to watch the jewels fracture in his hands.
Tahonikepsu enters, knocks Amenopheus to the floor, and takes his chair. He lies crumpled on the ground, then the scene flickers and repeats.
----------------------
Carefully braced on his pit-perch, Sinuhotep reaches out just as Evad arrives with an acrobatic flourish.
Later, in a ritual chamber, he cuts the living heart out of a sphinx and looks up to see Tahari smiling at him. The world shifts to a cavernous chamber where he drinks from a poisonous chalice and collapses as Tahari cradles his head.
----------------------
----------------------
Tahonikepsu can hold on no longer and breathes once again, filling Magor's cramped sub-chamber with flashing torrents of electrical terror.
Clearly bemused by the length of the fight, Tahari slides down to view the carnage and casts again. The black light around her head glows and she focuses in on the now visible faerie dragon influencing her own pet.
Rok's eyes suddenly seem blurry.
Deep in the pit, the onyx jewel glows, to the delight of Rogar and the azata.
Bralani Azata (sickened, -1 CON)
Rogar's Elemental
Rogar (mage armor, sickened, shield, -2 CON) -48 hp
---------------------------
Shira Div <purple> (grappled, pinned, retribution hex, dusty pelt <20% miss>) -112 hp
Rok (SR=15, cloak of shade, delay poison, mage armor, Barkskin, shield, bless, heat shimmer <20% miss>, fatigued) -8 hp <need reflex save> <need fort save>
Dhiara, the Topaz Sage (bless, -2 CON) -22 hp
Theodric (delay poison, endure elements, protection from evil, sickened, antiplague and antitoxin, bull's strength, bless) -20 hp
Grandmaster Torch, the Emerald Sage (bless, fatigued) -26 hp
Magor's Elemental 1 (fatigued) <need reflex save>
Magor's Elemental 2 <dotted> <need reflex save>
Magor (ward of the season, antiplague, bless, -2 CON, fatigued) -22 hp
Vladek (ward of the season, mage armor, sickened, bless, flight hex, -2 CON) -39 hp <need reflex save from Vladek and each animated object>
Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage (inert, bless, fatigued) -26 hp
Qadathra (Ward Hex, 1 temp negative Level, sickened, bless, mirror image (3), fatigued, in mindscape) -23 hp
Evad (delay poison, mage armor, darkvision, death ward, barkskin, bless, protection from evil, in mindscape) - 16 hp <need fort save> <need reflex save>
Sinuhotep, the Amethyst Sage <red> (freedom of movement) -13 hp
Tahonikepsu, the Diamond Sage <red> (staggered, blur) -21 hp
Aryana Tahari <red> (see invisibility)
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Rok attunes himself to the desert above and allows the hostile magic to roll over him, like a sand dune over an unyielding monument of the Ouat.
It is not as effective as he would have hoped.
Redoubling his efforts, Rok mauls the Div.
Feeling the Div flex against his grip, Rok knocks out its legs for a better position.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Evad observes the scene and afterward approaches Sinuhotep. It's plan to see that your own greed lead you down the path to undeath. Blame Tahari if you want; but her own greed aligned with yours. Your decisions were your own. For someone who has proven so smart, you lack the wisdom to place the blame where it belongs.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Both elementals take the full brunt of dragon breath, but continue hammering at the div.
Full Full attack (purple)
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Tahonikepsu hears a small, kind voice in her mind: Has not a dragon a right to fly?
Come; in this moment, we have all the time in the universe!
|
|
The lightning arcs rip through group, causing the book shelves and table to finally disintegrate and leaving others on the verge of death.
Safe down below, Rogar and the azata enter the vacant sage jewels amidst the broken platforms in the pit.
She looks to him for advice, but he ignores her. He sees her later as a young woman, an adult, and then in middle-age, her entourage of spirits growing each time. At each point he sees a chance to speak or act as the ghosts implore him to intervene, but each time he remains silent.
----------------------
The explorer Mnesoset waves to a diverse crowd of humans, insect people, dwarves, and more, who cheer and wish her luck as she begins entering a mountainside ruin. She is an athletic Garundi woman who keeps her hair in braids, and her outfit includes accessories and garments from a wide range of cultures—her focus was always on the cultures beyond Ancient Osirion. Tales say she disappeared during an expedition to revive an army of Jistkan golems to help Osirion fight off the Keleshite invasion in 1532 ar.
Within she finds a hall inhabited by row after row of towering statues; as she inspects them, the sound of her friends being slaughtered echoes from outside. Mnesoset draws out an ivory rod and commands the statues to follow her orders. At first they follow her commands, but then one grabs her and throws her against a wall. Other statues stand in front of the entrance, keeping her from leaving yet not stopping the stream of blood that trickles down from the ruin’s entrance. All the while, a horned fiend watches from the shadows, moving its hands as if controlling marionettes.
------------------
Rok tries to force the div to submit and brings it to its knees. Theo rejoins the group, somewhat rested and ready. Grandmaster Torch moves to Vladek and pulls another potion from his pack.
"I'll handle the fallen witch, take down these foes! I have a feeling Tahari is just toying with us so far..." As he reaches down to unstop the vial, he whispers to himself. “You had such promise, Asha. I feel that I failed you, but the Ten failed us both and continue to fail our comrades. One of those failures I must live with; for the other I can avenge us and make things right—make it right for everyone.”
The elementals fight on, pummeling the helpless div into submission as it finally goes limp in Rok's arms. Sinuhotep takes the last of the elemental's swings straight on the chin, snapping his head back much to his surprise.
Magor continues his massive renovation by forming a vertical wall to seperate Tahari further. It is clear that Vladek has seen better days and is moments away from meeting the great beyond.
"Yes, time is a river. Jumbled and unending. But rivers are flowing, and we can learn to ride the waves. Just as you ride the skies. There is a time, a place, where... I must be."
The libraries fade in the mindscape as Tahonikepsu the Diamond Sage, returns to save her Order.
-----------
Tahonikepsu turns to the benevolent dragon somewhere nearby. "Yes, Qadathra, let's fly." The white light around Tahari's brow dims.
-----------
Sinuhotep struggles with Evad's helpless form, trying to force him out of the mindscape.
Tahonikepsu lunges at the ghost and swipes across her form. "Your time has ended.. this is our Sanctum now!"
The ghost's demeanor changes as she realizes her protections are truly slipping away. She plunges through Magor's newest wall and casts a slowing spell.
The evil images that permeate the shadows of the sanctum fill the hastily formed chamber that Magor has wrought. Although, perhaps prophetically, they show Tahari's death atop a pile of Sarenite corpses, impaled on the sword of a dying planetar angel.
Bralani Azata (sickened, -1 CON)
Rogar's Elemental
Rogar (mage armor, sickened, shield, -2 CON) -48 hp
---------------------------
Shira Div <purple> (unconscious, dying, dusty pelt <20% miss>) -160 hp
Rok (SR=15, cloak of shade, delay poison, mage armor, Barkskin, shield, bless, fatigued) -33 hp <need will save>
Dhiara, the Topaz Sage (bless, -2 CON) -22 hp
Theodric (delay poison, endure elements, protection from evil, sickened, antiplague and antitoxin, bull's strength, bless) -20 hp <need will save>
Grandmaster Torch, the Emerald Sage (bless, fatigued) -26 hp
Magor's Elemental 1 (fatigued) -35 hp <need will save>
Magor's Elemental 2 <dotted> -35 hp <need will save>
Magor (ward of the season, antiplague, bless, -2 CON, fatigued) -22 hp <need will save>
Vladek (ward of the season, mage armor, sickened, bless, flight hex, -2 CON, dying) -74 hp <Need CON check> <need will save>
Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage (inert, bless, fatigued) -26 hp
Qadathra (Ward Hex, 1 temp negative Level, sickened, bless, mirror image (3), fatigued) -23 hp
Evad (delay poison, mage armor, darkvision, death ward, barkskin, bless, protection from evil, in mindscape) - 16 hp <need reflex save> <need fort save> <need will save>
Sinuhotep, the Amethyst Sage <red> (freedom of movement) -24 hp
Tahonikepsu, the Diamond Sage (blur) -21 hp
Aryana Tahari <red> (see invisibility) -18 hp
|
|
Evad bodies remains helpless, his mind deep in the mind of Sinuhotep.
Evad looks skeptically at Sinuhotep, Ah, you said it yourself, a decision, a decision you had to make. All of your mighty intellect bent on a course of action. But not weaknesses, strength; strength to put yourself first. But not wise enough to understand the true consequence. Sure Tahari was there giving you bad advice; but you knew that, you made your own decision, not her. And what do I know of destiny, I've walked a path of destiny. What brings an outcast half-breed from the jungles of Mwangi to pinnacle of the event that will decide Osirian's future and the future of the Scarab Sages; that is destiny; not chance, I've walked the path that led me here.
|
|
[dice=stabilization check, sickened]1d20-12
[dice=Will save vs Transmutation, sickened]1d20+9As if in recognition of one of its finest students' moment of need, Time itself stays its hand!
On the character's next turn, after being reduced to negative hit points (but not dead), and on all subsequent turns, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check to become stable. The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. A character that is stable does not need to make this check. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. If the character fails this check, he loses 1 hit point. An unconscious or dying character cannot use any special action that changes the initiative count on which his action occurs.
|
|
Without saying much, the azata searches Mnemoset's mindscape and memories for clues. The horned fiend draws her particular interest and she follows that train of thought until the conclusion is unmistakeable. The azata discovers that the horned fiend is in reality, a sepid div and it was largely responsible for deceiving everyone and corrupting Mnemoset's orders millennia ago thus dooming her mission.
Speaking to her about the betrayal in truespeech, the azata convinces the spinel sage to renounce any control Tahari has over her sage jewel now and forever.
The memories fade to grey.
----------------
The spinel colored light dims around Tahari's head.
Padrym grumbles as he shifts restlessly to and fro, barely acknowledging Rogar's presence. "Of course it is done. By my hand and hammer. Tahari is a construct of my ineptitude. Why couldn't I have guided her? Why did I choose to remain silent?"
-------------
|
|
"Master Amenopheus. It's me, Vladek Tehuty-Cabal Odradek, faithful - in practice, if not perhaps in principle - agent of Osirion, the Ruby Prince, and the Scarab Sages. We've known each other for quite some time now. Do you remember the first missive you sent me? Remember The Throaty Mermaid? You sent some half-feral desert nomad and I to help escort a dignitary to the Mordant Spire - and while you were at it, you wanted us to retrieve the ship's figurehead for some reason. Just take the figurehead right off a ship, nevermind that it was still sailing! I tried sculpting a forgery to replace it with so no one would miss the original. I thought perhaps that was why you sent me - simply for my skills as a sculptor. I never was sure why you chose that other fellow to be my accomplice; he'd been living in the deep desert for so long he was constantly muttering about cannibalizing everyone else's bodies to just recover their water - I imagine the sea must have come as a bit of a revelation to him! That said, he was actually quite cooperative and amenable, tried to help rig up some flimsy mechanism for safely removing the figurehead and replacing it with the facsimile. None of that wound up mattering, though, what with the murder...and then the storm...and somehow, the whole 'replace it with a forgery' scheme wasn't even necessary in the end! We reached our destination, solved a murder, and many more adventures did that desert-rat and I have together...before he disappeared. Not entirely sure what happened to him, or the others...the musically-inclined archaeologist, the knight whose teeth reflected light almost as well as the moon, the doughty warrior who saved everyone's life once but stomped off as soon as the Shadow Lodge was dissolved, the unkempt mercenary archer, the incompetent Sorceress, the hopelessly cowardly healer, that brute of a Ninja, the simpleton Paladin, the Alchemist who was nearly incinerated by his own collection of concoctions, that IMBECILE Barbarian who could sooner smash through a wall than operate a doorknob...you know, in hindsight, perhaps I DO have some idea of what became of most of them. I've made my way through haunted catacombs, been turned halfway into some kind of bat or something and very nearly beaten to death by berserk Druids, watched a ghoul eat a man's brain from just a few feet away, narrowly survived the ruins of Azlant, attempted to reason with spooked prospectors who'd been prying up an ancient fiend's prison, turned an Aspis poacher into a newt, been voluntarily possessed, even visited the Blackros Museum - and if you think that lot runs into trouble curating a museum, you should see what happens when they try moving into a new home! I've literally been made to stare into my own worst fears. I nearly lost my dear Qadathra. I've been to the Boneyard, came back. I knew someone else who didn't. I also had a run-in with some sort of Rovagug-spawned game-fowl, not too long ago. But you were always there, Master Amenopheus, no matter who else came or went, you and your strange letters." Vladek pauses and looks around the chamber. "I must admit, I've never seen the man behind the letters until now: A man who has dedicated his life, such as it is, to not merely the survival, but the thriving of history!...only to for history to repeatedly kick him in the heart for his efforts. You know something, Master Amenopheus? I think you take it all too seriously. History is a farce. The UNIVERSE is a farce. The darkness beyond laughs at us. That is why we stand up, and look at the uncaring heavens...and laugh back. If Eternity is to swallow us like a sandstorm swallows the monuments of Ancient Osirion, then the least we can do is stand tall, our longest finger held as high as we can hold it! In an uncaring cosmos, the supreme power is WILL, and ultimately, for all the misery, horror, and deceit that may be inflicted, nothing can truly destroy or diminish the WILL itself EXCEPT itself. That is the basis of MAGIC!"
Standard Attack (Sinuhotep)
|
|
Theodric moves through fellow Pathfinders, heading south then east swiftly thanks to his magically enhanced boots, and jumps intentionally into the gaping hole created by Tahari.
--> points of nonlethal damage and points of lethal damage from the plunge; prone.
Rolling on his back, he takes a look at whoever is still inert, and seeing that Rogar looks lost in space, reaches for Rogar's gem to join him in the same mindscape!
[Free action to enter Padrym's Mindscape]
[Standard Action remains]
|
|
Rogar continues to try and convince the dwarven sage to resist Tahari's control, but the other dwarf seems unconvinced still.
--------------
Leaving the div to die, Rok switches focus to the ghost dangerously close to him. All of his swings wildly miss the cagey spirit as she studies his form.
Dhiara races into the hastily formed structure for the final showdown. Theodric slides down the edges of the magical pit to aid the others.
Grandmaster Torch heals the fallen witch, who immediately enters the Sapphire Sage's mind.
---------------------
Both of their eyes open at once, and Amenepheous targets a lighting bolt upon the ghost without hesitation. Tahari thus realizes her control over the sages and sage jewels is coming to an swift end.
Magor begins casting again as an elemental slowly pounds away at Sinuhotep.
---------------------
Qadathra rejoins the group as Evad finally rouses the lich to reality. Sinuhotep tries to further disarm Tahari's defenses.
Realizing her options disappearing before her eyes, Tahari concentrates to create another pit, some glitterdust and then disappears into the wall behind her. All that remains circling around Tahari's head is a single black light that flashed briefly as she cast her spells.
Bralani Azata (sickened, -1 CON)
Rogar's Elemental
Rogar (mage armor, sickened, shield, -2 CON) -48 hp
---------------------------
Shira Div <purple> (unconscious, dying) -163 hp
Rok (SR=15, cloak of shade, delay poison, mage armor, Barkskin, shield, bless, fatigued) -33 hp
Dhiara, the Topaz Sage (bless, -2 CON) -22 hp
Theodric (delay poison, endure elements, protection from evil, sickened, antiplague and antitoxin, bull's strength, bless, slow) -26 hp
Grandmaster Torch, the Emerald Sage (bless, fatigued) -26 hp
Magor's Elemental 1 (fatigued, slow) -35 hp <need will save>
Magor's Elemental 2 <dotted> (slow, readied to strike) -35 hp
Magor (ward of the season, antiplague, bless, -2 CON, fatigued) -22 hp <need will save>
Vladek (ward of the season, mage armor, sickened, bless, flight hex, -2 CON, prone) -54 hp <need will save>
Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage (bless, fatigued) -26 hp
Qadathra (Ward Hex, 1 temp negative Level, sickened, bless, mirror image (3), shield, fatigued) -23 hp
Evad (delay poison, mage armor, darkvision, death ward, barkskin, bless, protection from evil, in mindscape) - 16 hp <need will save>
Sinuhotep, the Amethyst Sage (freedom of movement) -33 hp
Tahonikepsu, the Diamond Sage (blur) -21 hp
Aryana Tahari <red> (see invisibility) -35 hp
|
|
As he wanders the halls, Theodric witnesses past scenes where the dwarf Padrym turned away when young Tahari sought advice, support, mentorship: a friend. In those scenes, he sees momentary flashes that includes Rogar and Padrym arguing. Like two rocks trying to race to the sea after falling from a great height only to rest on a ledge... the two are caught in a loop... the last foot may take an eternity where the last mile happened in mere seconds...
Taking the shape of a young dirty street urchin, Theodric steps in front of young Tahari and begs for some money as she was about to approach Padrym. Seeing that she attempts to dismiss him or walk around him to reach Padrym, young Theodric plants his feet firmly and pushes her back, yelling, "Rich palace giRL!! YOU CAN AFFORD TO GIVE ME A FEW COINS! stop ignORING ME!!"
Theodric wishes to get the worse out of Tahari, so that the two onlooking dwarves realize how bad she's always been. Realizing she's not going to give him any coins, young street urchin Theodric spits at her face!
Seeing the angry, disgusted look on her face, boy-Theodric turns to Padrym and Rogar, and says, "Snap out of it Master Padrym! look how mean she is! she wants to strike me down as she stands! me, a defenseless young boy! she has no time for me, and the only time she EVER turned to you was because she NEEDED SOMETHING! SHE'S EVIL! ARE YOU GONNA LET HER USE YOUR POWER TO DESTROY EVERYTHING!? SHE'S USING THE POWER OF YOUR JEWEL NOW!!!"
|
|
"Not necessarily...."
Vladek blinks away the glitterdust, retaliates by attempting to twist Aryana's immediate toward its bleakest outcomes , then floats back into the air and behind one of Magor's elementals .
|
|
Emerging from the mindscape, Evad gives Sinuhotep a satisfying smile, as he's sees the Lich once again on there side. Welcome back The ghost spreads more discontent.
Evad though, bolstered by a new found confidence manages to keep his eyes firmly closed as he is showered by golden sparkles while also continuing to balance precariously on the edge of the pit.
Well let's see if we can cut off her escape! Evad races to find the other side of the wall hiding Tahari.