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Cirri kicks her feet in the beach water. Nothing to bother her besides the sounds of the seagulls. Well, until a merfolk pops up.
"Wow! A merfolk! And uhh, based on a manta ray? Cool!" Cirri bounds up. "Can I join you?"
She merfolk shakes her head. "Not yet. I thought it was time, but you still have something to do. Maybe. Just wait a bit longer, okay?"
Cirri nods as the merfolk dives back in. "I feel like I'm forgetting something... important."
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Sickly gets a lucky shot in as she zips upward, slower than she hoped. Her spell fails to close up his already tightened windwipe.
The topaz light around Tahari’s head goes dim.
Dhiara and Ruprecht's eyes both dart open as he exits the mindscape and immediately rushes over to another (perhaps more hostile) one. Amenopheus own eyes widen as Ruprecht goes limp beside him.
A huge band of wasps suddenly stretches across the battlefield.
The div laughs from her perch and casts again.
Loxx and Hassam race over to save their fallen companion, the druid turning the wand on himself at the last moment. Dhiarra, noting the flow of battle, leaps up and propels herself up the railing to face the laughing div and strikes her once in the chest.
Sickly maintains his resolve and grows large after a self-imposed jolt to the chest, his huge swing harming Tahari gravely again.
”Stop this my friend!” Tahonikepsu screams out, still threatening the mage. The sapphire sage tries in vain to leave the scene through trickery, as the dragon smites him again.
Tahari casts again and Sickly immediately shrinks back to size. She casts again at him and then moves toward the landing.
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Cirri (Haste, Heroism, 3 negative levels, sickened, -2 CON) -63 hp
Fetch (Diseased, Longstrider, sickened) -10 hp
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Ruprecht (Haste, Barkskin, Heroism, 1 negative level, Ward) -15 hp <need will save>
Div <purple>
Hassam (Haste, Heroism, 2 negative levels, sickened, -4 CON) -50 hp
Riddywhipple (Diseased, Heroism, 2 negative levels, sickened, -4 CON) -36 hp
Loxx (DR/2, Haste, Heroism, Deadeye's Lore, sickened, -2 CON) - 42 hp
Dhiara, the Topaz Sage (-3 CON) -34 hp
Grandmaster Torch, the Emerald Sage (inert, -3 CON) -51 hp
Sinuhotep, the Amethyst Sage (inert) -27 hp
Sickly (DR/3, Resist Fire/2, Haste, Heroism, sickened, 3 neg levels, -2 CON) -60 hp <four fort saves needed, prior to losing the levels>
Tahonikepsu, the Diamond Sage (-2 CON) -28 hp
Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage <red> (staggered) -46 hp
Tahari <red> (4 squares up) -87 hp
Riddlywhipple continues to watch from afar, wondering if Cirri will survive this. "Ah, Taharl listened to reason, finally."
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Will save with ward, Heroism, negative level and bonus for combat plus 2 versus enchantment, plus 1 versus fear and confusion.
Ru in the mindscape:
Know. History
Know. History
Know. History
”You can’t sit here and do nothing. You have to fight for what is right! Look at all the noble warriors who have fought to stop the flow of demons from the WorldWound. They know they are in a life and death battle at all time, just like we are now. That ghost is going to kill all of us, if you can’t shake off her mental control. Your name will be passed down for
Generations if you can help us win this day!”
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One moment, Sickly is large, and wailing about with his giant hammer... but then the forgotten div finishes its spell, and suddenly the entire area is filled with wasps... wasps that do not care how big Sickly is, and in fact just find more of him to sting!
It will be a surprise to no one, that the ailing dwarf's long list of confirmed allergies does indeed include wasps! Suddenly all his desperate bravado is replaced by panicked flailing, as his huge hands start swatting at tiny insects.
A moment later, Tahari hits him with a spell of her own, and the magic that allowed him to grow in size, fades as quickly as it arrived, and he sinks back down to ground level, no longer in the swarms, but the damage already done.
But the ghost is not done, and a moment later, as the necromantic ray of energy strikes him, he feels his life flowing from his body, just as easily as his blood, and another wailing cry starts to burst from his throat, but comes out a muffled moan, as his body reacts to the wasp stings, and his tongue starts to swell up, making it hard for him to speak at all.
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"Oh! That's it. I need to help my friends kill that icky ghost!" Cirri grabs her quarterstaff and runs away from the beach. "Thanks!" She waves off to the merfolk before the world turns pitch black.
She trips and falls face first into solid stone. As she tries to recover she hears the sound of insects buzzing about, ghosts and divs screaming for blood and Loxx's hand on her shoulder. She clucks like a chicken as she regains consciousness. "Oh, hey! I'm back!"
"By the way, if you're gonna fight the divs, use cold iron or good weapons! Also they have, spell resistance, they resist acid and electricity. And don't bother with fire, poison, and disease, they are immune!"
Cirri eyes the paladin's weapon. "Anyone has martial training? I'm no good with flails."
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Finally out of the wasps, Sickly looks back, and sees Torch still standing in the thick of them, getting stung by hundreds if not thousands of them, and completely unaware.
As much as he did not like or trust the man who had gotten so many pathfinders killed... he could not let him die that way. Not without at least trying to get him out.
For some reason the injustice of it all just makes him angrier.
Before he can think on it further, he throws his arms protectively over his head, steps back into the swarm, and suddenly freezes...
Sickly watches the scene play out with a frown, as the first man, apparently Torch, gets burned saving his friend, then she in turn gets killed saving Torch.
"You have to move." He finally mutters, somehow his usual meek personality taking the forefront in the mindscape, even while his real body stood outside raging! "Your dying... I'm dying."
"I don't wanna die." He adds in a whisper.
He ignores the man's angry response.
"At least you had a friend, even if you're not a very nice." His tone, though quiet, is almost accusing. "She's may be gone now, her life for yours, but now you sit and die anyway? So what now of her's?"
"Over there, see... the crevasse in the rock. I think it's a way out." He tries to get Torch to at least try to make his way out of his own nightmare.
"I don't have any friends like that." He sighs, wishing he did. "Life tries to kill me, every chance it get. No one tries to stop it but me."
"To left there, you have to go down now." He adds, trying to lead him past the next metaphoric obstacle.
"Sometimes, you gotta save yourself..." His voice trails off, almost inaudible.
Even in the dreamworld, Sickly was starting to get an uncomfortable itch on his back, that he was sure was related to the wasps stinging it even now, in the real world.
His voice takes on a small sense of urgency. "It's not always 'their' fault."
"Now jump." He explains, as they come to a drop off. "Jump and save yourself. Stop blaming others for not doing it for you."
Whether Torch listens or not, he pulls himself out of the mindscape. He can't stop himself from knowing the insects are out there biting him! He did what he could.
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Ruprecht shakes off persistent thoughts of quitting the mindscape and continues his work within. Tahari is successful in minimizing the dwarf (in many ways). But her troubles are far from over.
With that the office walls dissolve like melting snow and the mindscape fades.
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The div steps away from Dhiara and disappears once again. Hassam swallows and grows large and takes a plunge with his bedecked longspear , just missing the wily ghost.
Loxx brings Cirri back to the realm of the living... for now.
Dhiara leaps down to join you. "Perhaps I can be of more service to you here."
Sickly moves foolhardily into the swarm and converses with the Grandmaster.
As he steps off into the unknown depths, he trails off screaming triumphantly "And you can thank me, laaaater!"
The mindscape fades and the two find themselves surrounded by wasps.
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Tahonikepsu notices a smile creep across Amenepheous's face. "Better now?" She asks. His smile broadens. She smiles back then arches her massive head toward the foe above and breathes a huge cone of electric miasma that fills nearly the entire dome of the sanctum.
Through the smoke and haze, you see a lone silver pendant fall from her last location and bounce across the ground at Loxx's feet. When it clears, the ghost known as Aryana Tahari is gone.
Grandmaster Torch and Sickly jump out of the swarms still buzzing dutifully in their designated positions.
Sinuhotep slowly opens his eyes and scans the room carefully. "What did I miss?" he asks incredulously.
There is a lingering but quiescent malevolence in the area during the aftermath. The sages celebrate as they gather the remaining jewels and convene to discuss. You overhear talk of reaffirming their commitments to the preservation of history and perhaps even searching for more sage jewels, if they exist. Even Torch takes a moment to clasp hands and exchange a quiet word with Amenopheus before vanishing when no one is looking.
"We best leave this place, it's time for us to purify these jewels so that this never happens again. Do a quick search to make sure we haven't missed anything. But who knows how long the supports will stay intact." Amenopheus looks at the sheet of vellum Torch left with him. "Hmm. A spell to get us home. I wonder what else he had in that bag."
Ruprecht (Haste, Barkskin, Heroism, 1 negative level, Ward) -15 hp
Hassam (Haste, Heroism, 2 negative levels, sickened, -4 CON) -50 hp
Riddywhipple (Diseased, Heroism, 2 negative levels, sickened, -4 CON) -36 hp
Loxx (DR/2, Haste, Heroism, Deadeye's Lore, sickened, -2 CON) - 42 hp
Dhiara, the Topaz Sage (-3 CON) -34 hp
Grandmaster Torch, the Emerald Sage (-3 CON) -54 hp
Sinuhotep, the Amethyst Sage -27 hp
Sickly (DR/3, Resist Fire/2, Haste, Heroism, sickened, 3 neg levels, -2 CON) -60 hp
Tahonikepsu, the Diamond Sage (-2 CON) -28 hp
Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage -46 hp
Cirri (Haste, Heroism, 3 negative levels) -15 hp
Fetch (Diseased, Longstrider, sickened) -10 hp
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Cirri stands up. "And that's why evil never wins." Cirri prepares to lean on her staff, but then she realizes she feels great. "Sorry I spent most of that time bleeding out there. Those fireballs hurt, you know!" She sticks out her tongue at Amenopheus mockingly.
She picks up the paladin's flail. "Sorry buddy. Know that you are free to return to Osiris. I will bring your flail and your symbol back home. Oh, and the armor, too."
Cirri pets Riddywhipple.
Cirri spends most of the time talking to the sages. Well, Dhaira and Amenopheus in particular, as she's wants to compare combat and magical notes between the two.
"Good riddance to this den of evil." Riddywhipple sputters back before landing on Cirri's shoulder. "I tried to awaken Dharia, but she was not impressed with my dragon kung-fu! I blame that witch." He sneers at Tahari's necklace.
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Ru wasn’t so quick to talk about what he had seen. He wasn’t sure if the three sage’s he visited in their thoughts were embarrassed by what he saw. Either way, he figured not mentioning it was the best plan. He sat down, figuring right now would be he safest time to catch his breath with all the collected might around him.
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Sickly slumps to the floor, his anger finally abating, but his symptoms not so much.
His breath continues to wheeze in and out, in and out, for some time. Until slowly he is able to get his breathing under control. He then digs around in his emergency medical kit, and starts pulling out vials and salves and tinctures of various sorts, applying or drinking or sniffing them, until the swelling on his face starts to recede, and his tongue starts to shrink down again, allowing him to speak.
He finally looks around at the others, through watery red eyes, still swollen mostly shut.
"It's not over... is it?" He mutters, unhappily, looking around worriedly. "I still feel... something..."
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"I could smash her jewel with the Paladin's flail if it makes you feel better." Cirri grins. "Once we smash this laboratory, she won't have anywhere to manifest. That's my guess, anyway. At the very least we need to retreat anyway."
Cirri offers Sickly her staff. "You can lean on this for now. Just be careful with it, it's my favorite staff!"
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"But..." the dwarf starts to mutter, in response to Cirri, but then shuts his mouth, and goes quiet, not wanting to point out that that was not how ghosts worked.
He slowly gets to his feet, coughing slightly, then starts to look around, in case there is some obvious connection to Tahari and her curse that might give more clues on how to shut her down forever.
He doesn't look at all happy when Torch abandons them here, clearly doubting himself for some reason.
"What if he had the disease too?" he whispers, the idea that Torch's hasty exit might release Fading Light into the world again, somewhat chilling.
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Sinuhotep scoops up the silver and obsidian charm that fell from the sky when she passed, before Cirri can smite it.
"This crystal is the same stone that inspired the sage jewels millennia ago. It is the known as "Anamnesis" and her arcane link to it is now broken. We are safe, for now. But I'm afraid her essence is still linked to this place. Something still anchors her spirit to this chamber to later rejuvenate. We must leave her spirit to be buried when these walls fall."
As if by design, the walls shake, reminding you of the location's imminent demise.
"We have but limited time, gather what you can from the shelves, Pathfinders." Tahonikepsu speaks, her eyes watching the ceiling above.
Searching the sanctum as the sages confer further on Tahari's fate, the group finds several useful items: the Book of the Grave, two scrolls of magic circle against evil, a scroll of magic circle against good, a scroll of dominate person and a copy of Quest Eternal.
Amenepheous ultimately gathers you together and the group is whisked back to Merab.
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The sages are elated that the Pathfinders were able to save every sage jewel and sage, so Tahonikepsu commissions a sculpture for the sages’ sanctum to commemorate for all time the Pathfinders’ role in the salvation of the order. Furthermore, the Order decides to pay all costs to restore the Pathfinder's to full health.
But what will ultimately become of the Order and their relationship to the Society is a story for another day.
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Of course the undead would prevent me from smiting the other undead. I'm keeping an eye out on you!
Cirri holds back the flail. "Um, okay. Just make sure she doesn't reach into your minds again, alright?"
Cirri enjoys another flight across the sands, pestering Tahonikepsu with too many questions until she finally turns into a harpy and flies ahead for a bit.
She's quite thankful for the Order's sculpture and the restorations- now Cirri is a part of history!