Bibic will share in the magically created food. It's got to be better than the rations they'd been shoveling down these last few days.
"Koriah, you may come with us if you insist, but we need to keep the loot the invaders brought with them. You may have the abby's goods of course. I'm just talking about the gear the visitors have. That's ours. Agreed?"
Truth be told, he'd keep the abby goods as well, but with the head of the abby here now, he figures that's not so likely. Take what you can! Give nothing back... drifts across his mind.
"So do we have an agreement?"
Clement nods as Casamir describes the triangular shard around Ardathanatus's neck.
As Bibic sorts out the details of their next steps with Koriah, he presses Casamir for details on their destination and most likely foe.
"So Ardathanatus is over a century old? Is he an elf, or.. undead?"
Clement takes a couple steps looking around the site.
"And the ruins.. are they catacombs below the abbey? How do you get in?"
"Koriah, you may come with us if you insist, but we need to keep the loot the invaders brought with them. You may have the abby's goods of course. I'm just talking about the gear the visitors have. That's ours. Agreed?"
"So do we have an agreement?"
Spasi nods in agreement, trying to make this with this Pathfinder at this time.
"How do we find Ardathanatus? Where might this grody grotean temple be?" Spasi asks, eager to find the next piece of the pie.
Koriah nods slowly, "That doesn't seem unreasonable, but then again how would you know which items are the invaders' own and which they despoiled from the abbey's fallen. I guess it would require someone like my father to examine the items so that those that had been looted could be returned to their next of kin. Might be worth taking a look at what you've already picked up, now that I think of it...."
She flashes a grin. "Or you could stop trying to short change me and cut me in for a fair share."
Casamir answers the questions. "Ardathanatus is indeed an elf. He and the temple would be far below us. Beneath the sublevels. As to how to access the are. There's a locked door (A10) that leads there. It predates the abbey and is sealed with what is known as a doomsday lock. There's some trick to opening it up. The abbot knew it, but I do not. I do know that there was also some sort of mind trap that barred the way, so if you try that way, be prepared. The acolytes and servants used a trapdoor in the storeroom(A6) to get down, so that might be the better approach."
Bibic smiles at her moxie and decides to reward it - after all he doesn't want to take damage if he can avoid it. "Well, I dunno if we want you along you understand. I don't know if you have any skill, and so I don't want to carry you though this thing only to give you a share at the end for nothing. Also we did just save your life, at great personal risk, and some cost."
"I can't speak for everyone, but if you pull your weight, I suppose we could share a little something with you." He turns to the others, "Guys, what do you think? If she does her job, will we be open to giving her up to a full share at the end of it all?"
Spasi gives her a good look up and down and continues to play the good wingman for Bibic.
"Oh yeah, Bibic. Whatever you say. You'll be the judge if she's done enough...just you, buddy," Spasi says supportively. "You just need to make sure she pleases you. Uh huh."
"Your generosity humbles me. Tell you what, you help me track down this Zolerim in the dungeons and capture him alive so that he can be brought back to Magnimar to stand trial for his betrayal, and I'll take my cut out of any gems or coins. I'll lay no claim on any of the magical trinkets we may stumble across below."
"Capture him alive huh? We're not terribly good at that, but we can try." he agrees.
"Let's go through the trapdoor shall we?" He checks his bow and quiver, and is ready to proceed.
"Yeah, we ain't great at the 'alive' part of the 'dead or alive', and I can't promise we'll try, but we'll try to try," Spasi agrees with Bibic. "We'll do something, I tell you that. Alive is tougher than dead. For sure." Spasi mostly agrees, looking at Rhesus. "You might want to be sure to keep what you want to keep alive away from Rhesus. His funk kills, let alone his weapons."
Spasi claps his hands and rubs them together, anxious to get moving.
"Now, let's get down that trapdoor."
Rhesus shrugs.
"Guess we can try for alive. I'll just smack them has hard as Spasi instead of as hard as I can."
Clement smirks as the group creates the impression that keeping someone alive would be difficult. Nonetheless, Clement's confidence continues to ooze at a far greater degree since he obtained his first shard.
"Nobody's dying that I don't allow to die. Remember I can control those things like Pharasma herself now? I mean, you remember those giants right? We could've taken two to three times as many..."
He gives a knowing nod to Casamir.
Rubbing his hands together, he smacks Rhesus on the shoulder, establishing his supernatural link to his ally and takes a few steps towards the abbey.
"Trapdoor time."
Casamir gives his daughter a hug and then returns to the lighthouse to wait for your return. Koriah does a quick equipment check and leads the way to the storeroom door, but lets Rhesus go in first.
Inside, the room contains a large barrel and a couple of wooden shelving units. Several opened crates and burst sacks lie scattered here and there. There is a trap door in the southwest corner, next to the entrance.
As you approaches the trapdoor, the stones of the floor start to slide out beneath you.
Regardless of the outcome, you see that someone had cunningly undermined the floor around the trapdoor. The ladder still remains leading down, but you see that there is a freshly erected brick wall that is sealing this pit off from the rest of the basement.
The instant they begin to fall (if they do), Bibic will cast Feather Fall to at least slow their descent onto the spikes.
Bibic will search for secrets. "Surely they didn't just brick it up?!" he says angrily.
Rhesus scrambles back, then grabs Clem as he gently floats away (if he does).
"Whoa! Thanks for the assist Bibic!"
Spasi guffaws as others almost get slightly hurt. He continues to float off the ground and so it seems pretty funny to him that others might get slightly hurt in something like this.
"Ha! Watch your step there!" Spasi grins
He will float down the ladder hole...but stops at the wall.
"Hey Rhesus, you wanna smash through this wall? Might be fun."
Rhesus eyes the wall mightily.
"Could, unless ya got another way around?"
"I can't disable magical traps, and have no noise dampening spells. So it's loud and we'll just have to fend off whatever comes through I think."
Bibic takes out his bow and stands well back from the wall Rhesus is about to break through. He watches for trouble.
Spasi agrees, not having the ability to minimize sound (and if he did, he would have used them to diminished the sleep-depriving nighttime emissions from Rhesus), despite having invested in earplugs long ago.
He searches through his haversack to find, then install his earplugs.
Spasi says, eager to move on.
Rhesus shrugs and begins his demolition project.
Clement sighs as his allies complain about being overly loud.
"Guys.. guys... remember? I'm used to dealing with Rhesus after he falls asleep at camp."
Waving his hands around just enough to complete somatic gestures, Clement allows an aura of absolute quiet to descend upon Rhesus's work.
Rhesus makes short work of the wall and it silently tumbles to a hallway beyond. The hallway turns to the left before ending at a T junction. To the north and south, corridors extend some distance before turning out of view. At the end of each hall lies a door.
Bibic throws a Light spell on his bow though his goggles of night allow him to see in the dark (60' dark vision). He then heads down the corridor. When they hit the 'T', he suggests right to the door. He readies an arrow.
Clement, exhibiting no preference for direction, nods to Bibic and gestures at Rhesus to open the door.
Spasi shrugs and follows Bibic, floating above the ground in the back. He will be 10' up when he can, otherwise 5'.
"So...Koriah, how long again have you been a Pathfinder?" Spasi asks unctuously. "Don't you just hate them Aspis Agents? Damn them handsome devils."
He will cast light as needed.
Rhesus nods at Bibic and heads to the door. Making sure the group is ready he tries the knob, opening the door if it's unlocked.
Koriah gives Spasi a side-long look. "Long enough to have seen your type a time or ten. Keep your focus on the mission. The awkward passes can wait for time when we're not surrounded by people trying to kill us." She pulls free a sword and hooked aklys before moving up to join Rhesus and Clement.
The door to this room is encrusted in ice. It doesn't appear to be locked, but is frozen shut.
From where you are, you can see light coming from a room further along the hall.
Rhesus looks back.
"Smash it or leave it for later?"
Clement looks over his shoulder at Spasi and Koriah's banter before leaning over to Rhesus.
"She didn't say no, she just said wait..."?"
Bringing his attention back to the door in front of them, Clement pokes a gauntlet-clad finger at the ice.
"Maybe just give it a real big push?"
As the door starts to budge, Clement appears somewhat surprised, but starts preparing for whatever cold-laden hazard is within.
"The awkward passes can wait for time when we're not surrounded by people trying to kill us."
Spasi's eyes widen with confusion. I'm not trying to hit on you...you're not my type. Just trying to set things up for my buddy Bibic.
Spasi contemplates a bit more.
You'll know I'm hitting on you when I offer you some coin. That's how you'll know. Because that's how it works.
* * *
Spasi smiles at Clem as he was just about to cast Resist Energy as well...just only on himself.
"Oh yeah, Clem! That's nice work. Good thinking. You're just like ol' Bibic, a good thinker," Spasi claps his hands together to warm them.
He waits for Rhesus to do some bashing.
"Thanks for the cold protection Clement." Bibic mumbles as he worries about the light. He tries to keep his bow focused both on the door and on the light.
Clem forces open the door and blast of chilled air floods out. Frost cakes the floor, ceiling, and walls of the room beyond. From the threshold you see that at the four corners of the room stand ice- encrusted statues of four humans, two men and two women, whose arms are outstretched along the walls. Several crates and barrels lie stacked against the room’s walls. Nothing living appears to be in the room. Koriah peeks in, "Smells of sorcery. Priests of Nethys were always mucking about down here, who knows what they've cooked up. Don't know if we should be poking about in their leavings."
"Don't know if we should poking about in their leavings."
Spasi gives Koriah a look. "Are you *sure* you're a Pathfinder? Pathfinders are well known tombraiders and treasure thieves...what makes you think we're not going to loot the s%!$ out of this place?"
Spasi gives the 'go ahead' signal to Rhesus after looking inside.
Perception with Detect Magic
Clement nods to Spasi's assertion, having worked with Spasi so long at this point, he's not even aware of the tone of the sorcerer's delivery.
"Those vaults those fill themselves! It's us hard-working field agents that bring stuff back. However, unlike a lot of our contemporaries we seem to get to keep most of the stuff we find."
Clement begins taking a few cautious steps into the room at Rhesus's side.
"The Doctor worked a special deal for us. Who knows, he might be able to work a deal for you so you don't need to turn most of the stuff you find back in?"
Clement looks over his shoulder, giving Bibic a permissive nod. After all, he had Rhesus to pal up with, it only made sense that Bibic would be looking for a similar bond with a fellow Pathfinder.
Rhesus shrugs as usual and moves into the room.
"If they're keeping it cold it's probably just food, but I could eat."
Bibic watches from the door, more worried about the light down the hall than a little light looting. He waits to see if Spasi's detections reveal anything.
"I'm not here to loot. I'm here to kill invaders and capture a traitor. Regardless, I tend to focus on the enemies that that might sneak up behind me first and leave the mysterious frozen rooms for mop up on the way out."
When Rhesus steps into the room, the statues animate and attack:
Combat
24 Spasi
21 RHesus
20 Bibic
18 Golems
10 Clement
7 Koriah
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0
Defense
AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+1 Dex, +10 natural)
hp 65
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +4
DR 5/adamantine; Immune construct traits, cold, magic
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +11 (1d6+5 plus 1d6 cold)
Special Attacks breath weapon (20-ft. cone, 3d6 cold damage, Reflex DC 15 half, usable once every 1d4 rounds), cold (1d6), icy destruction
Icy Destruction (Ex) When reduced to 0 hit points, an ice golem shatters in an explosion of jagged shards of ice. All creatures within a 10-foot burst take 3d6 points of slashing damage and 2d6 points of cold damage; a DC 15 Reflex save halves the damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Immunity to Magic (Ex) An ice golem is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance, with the exception of spells and spell-like abilities that have the Fire descriptor, which affect it normally. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.
• A magical attack that deals electricity damage slows an ice golem (as the slow spell) for 2d6 rounds, with no saving throw.
• A magical attack that deals cold damage breaks any slow effect on the golem and heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. If the amount of healing would cause the golem to exceed its full normal hit points, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. An ice golem gets no saving throw against cold effects.
Round 1
"Well this ain't food!"
Round 1, Initiative: 20
Weapon Equipped = Longbow
Cold Iron Arrows = 71/71
Silver Blunt Arrows = 16/16
Adamantine Salted Arrows = 16/16
Ghost Salted Arrows = 16/16
Reptile Bane Arrows = 1/1
Bardic Performance = 26/26 (+2 round lingering, move action)
Boots of Speed = 10/10 (+1 attack, +1 bonus on attack rolls, and a +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves)
Shard Major Image = 1/1
LoreMaster = 1/1 (take-20 on any knowledge check, standard action)
Bow Attack Mods: BAB +8/3, Dex +4, Weapon Focus +1, Bow +3, (Rapid Shot -2), (Deadly Aim -3)
Bow Damage Mods: Composite Bow +3, Bow +3, (Deadly Aim +6)
Bard Spells: (CL 11, Con: +15, SR +13, DC: 14+)
0) Detect Magic, Light, Mending, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Spark
1) (5/6) Cure Light Wounds, Feather Fall, Grease, Timely Inspiration, Unseen Servant
2) (3/5) Calm Emotions, Cure Moderate Wounds, Glitterdust, Heroism
3) (4/4) Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Haste, Invisibility Sphere
Bibic quickly takes out and puts on his golembane scarab. He clasps his bow, ready to go.
”Found something have we?” he chuckles as Rhesus wades in as usual.
Round 1, Init 24
Know (Arcana)
"Ice Golems, here? And this many of them? Why? They gotta be guarding something good," Spasi chimes out, giving the room a full fireball before Rhesus gets in the way.
Fireball vs. DC 20 Reflex for half
"Burn them with fire. That's my advice."
5th: 1/5 (Lightning Arc*2,Overland*1)
4th: 0/7 (Gr Invis*0, Stone Shape,DDoor*0,SMIV*0)
3rd: 2/8 (See Invis (ext)*0,fireball*3,Haste*0,Heroism*1)
2nd: 1/8 (FalseLife*1, Glitterdust*0,Resist Energy*0,Invisibility*1)
1st: 2/8 (MageArmor*1,Snowball*0,MMissile*0,Vanish*1)
Wand of Magic Missile 28/50 CL 9 left
Wand of Fly 6 4 left
Arcane Bolt: (0/10) used
Spasi blasts because its the right thing to do.
The golems melt a little beneath the fiery fury of Spasi's spell and Rhesus explodes one into razor sharp shards.
The remaining three swarm Rhesus:
Koriah watches Rhesus get blown up, then showered with ice shards. "So ya, this seems like something the for the wizard and archer. I'll watch the flank."
She moves a few feet down the hallway towards the light.
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0
Defense
AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+1 Dex, +10 natural)
hp 65: 19, 19, 19,
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +6
DR 5/adamantine; Immune construct traits, cold, magic
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +11 (1d6+5 plus 1d6 cold)
Special Attacks breath weapon (20-ft. cone, 3d6 cold damage, Reflex DC 15 half, usable once every 1d4 rounds), cold (1d6), icy destruction
Icy Destruction (Ex) When reduced to 0 hit points, an ice golem shatters in an explosion of jagged shards of ice. All creatures within a 10-foot burst take 3d6 points of slashing damage and 2d6 points of cold damage; a DC 15 Reflex save halves the damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Immunity to Magic (Ex) An ice golem is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance, with the exception of spells and spell-like abilities that have the Fire descriptor, which affect it normally. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.
• A magical attack that deals electricity damage slows an ice golem (as the slow spell) for 2d6 rounds, with no saving throw.
• A magical attack that deals cold damage breaks any slow effect on the golem and heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. If the amount of healing would cause the golem to exceed its full normal hit points, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. An ice golem gets no saving throw against cold effects.
Round 2, Initiative: 20
Weapon Equipped = Longbow
Cold Iron Arrows = 71/71
Silver Blunt Arrows = 16/16
Adamantine Salted Arrows = 16/16
Ghost Salted Arrows = 16/16
Reptile Bane Arrows = 1/1
Bardic Performance = 26/26 (+2 round lingering, move action)
Boots of Speed = 10/10 (+1 attack, +1 bonus on attack rolls, and a +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves)
Shard Major Image = 1/1
LoreMaster = 1/1 (take-20 on any knowledge check, standard action)
Bow Attack Mods: BAB +8/3, Dex +4, Weapon Focus +1, Bow +3, (Rapid Shot -2), (Deadly Aim -3)
Bow Damage Mods: Composite Bow +3, Bow +3, (Deadly Aim +6)
Bard Spells: (CL 11, Con: +15, SR +13, DC: 14+)
0) Detect Magic, Light, Mending, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Spark
1) (5/6) Cure Light Wounds, Feather Fall, Grease, Timely Inspiration, Unseen Servant
2) (3/5) Calm Emotions, Cure Moderate Wounds, Glitterdust, Heroism
3) (4/4) Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Haste, Invisibility Sphere
Bibic, wearing his golembane scarab to bypass DR, starts to whittle down the ice golems if he can. He’s impressed by how much damage Rhesus can soak and still be in fighting form.
Spasi waits to see if the team needs any help, but he feels he's probably done enough to 'help'.
"So...Koriah...how come you don't like free treasure? I mean, aren't we Pathfinders all about tombraiding?"
Clement looks in shock at some of his burns and glances back at Spasi.
"I should've known I should've protected against fire too when going in here..."
Patting down some of his burn-damage, Clement is about to take a step into the room but then hesitates before looking to Spasi again before finally stepping in and nudging Rhesus on the shoulder.
"Ugh, go ahead. Keep on blasting."
Rhesus lays about him into the golems, what's left of them.
Bibic and Rhesus smash the remaining golems and each explode into shards, slicing into Rhesus and Clem.
Koriah looks at Spasi, "This isn't a tomb. These are the workshops of the priests of Nethys that lived here. I knew most of them. This isn't picking through the ruins of an ancient civilization. It feels more like robbing a neighbor and turns out I don't really have a taste for that. Poking about the temple of Groteus should be interesting though."
With the destruction of the golems, the room begins to grow noticeably warmer. Looking over their remnants, Spasi finds that the a series of runes have been scratched into the foreheads of the constructs, most-likely accounting for their violent behaviour. Poking about the barrels and crates finds them full of frozen perishables. The abbey's cold storage is destroyed and the rest of the dungeon awaits.