Jani attempts to bring ill-fortune to the woman...
Seeing the effect of the negative energy released by the evil cleric, Storn fights back by releasing healing energy of this own.
Storn points an angry finger at the woman-creature and shouts, "Don't go anywhere: I'll be right back!" before turning and running towards the dropped torch with his weapon blanch.
The woman-creature seems to just be paused, hovering in mid-air, not doing anything!
Round 6: Everyone's up! (Herman technically is going before the thing.)
Torvic chases after yet more of the drunken mites, but can't yet land a blow.
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School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level witch 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (hair from a black cat)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature
Duration 1 round/level or until discharged
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes
You afflict the target with bad luck. On the next d20 roll the target makes, it must roll twice and take the less favorable result. For every five caster levels you have, the target must roll twice on an additional d20 roll (to a maximum of five rolls at 20th level).
A target who can speak and has at least one free hand and who is aware of the spell and its effects (such as from a Spellcraft check to identify the spell as it is cast) can negate one reroll by spending a move action to utter a brief prayer or good luck charm to appease the spirits of ill fortune.
Jani continues to inflict ill luck on the evil woman.
Scintillating daggers of sound leap from Herman's voice , and the woman thing first dodges well but then inexplicably moves back into the deadly spray!
Wuliem throws his ice-bomb and almost misses - but, fortunately there is no last-moment deflection to save her and it his, doing terrible damage, freezing the already-wounded woman-creature, shattering her cloak and causing her to fall to the ground!
The masked woman-creature lies unconscious at your feet! From a first inspection, she appears to be dead, actually, although the thing is masked and - especially - grotesque enough that it isn't obvious.
With it on the ground and helpless, Hagan's shaky shot still misses, clanking against her armored form.
Storn moves to the site of the downed torch.
Torvic swings weakly at a mite as it goes past, but just misses.
Torvic hurries back, staggering a bit, and quite unceremoniously performs a coup de grace on the prone creature with his axe. Despite the resistance, the wound is severe. Not entirely satisfied with the first hit, Torvic raises the axe above his head again, aiming very deliberately.
"Mmm. Mm-Hm. That one was better. I believe it had to be done, though: I believe there may have been no limit to her powers to cause the deadly nightmares."
Closely inspecting the grotesque form, Wuliem makes a terrifying discovery: It is still alive and regenerating!
Indeed, it does seem to work, with a strange change coming over the body, which first bleeds more heavily for a moment then starts to weather like old, rotted wood, crumbling and flaking away, eventually turning into a crusty, ashen slime.
It is then as if a cloud lifts, something especially noticed by the members of the party most shaken by her nightmarish aura. The surrounding room is still a surreal hellscape, but even the dubious candles seem to burn more steadily.
Looking what remains behind and searching with detect magic, you find a potion of cure light wounds, a masterwork breastplate, a masterwork buckler, a dagger, a masterwork longbow with 17 arrows, a cold iron rapier, antitoxin, a blackened silver holy symbol of Lamashtu, noblewoman’s robes, 4 parchment pages filled with Lamashtu holy scripts, silver necklace (100 gp value), a silver ring bearing Lamashtu’s symbol (50 gp value), and a spell component pouch.
Looking around the calmer, suddenly emptied room, you notice that the yellowed bones of a dwarf lie draped over a chair in a corner of the gallery. An iron signet ring, which Torvic identifies as having the rune of Barek Triongger, still sits on one bony finger. Two more of the luminous pearls, worth a total of 250 gp, are also found, having been concealed in a rusty iron bracelet. A high-quality set of stoneworker’s chisels lie in a satchel by the skeleton’s bony feet.
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With a satisfying 'twonk' the bolt lodges itself in the woman's head. Storn steps back as the foul mist rises, and he looks around with pride at his work.
"Maybe I can get used to this contraption after all! Congratulations my friends, we have kicked in the door, killed a monster, and now we can steal her stuff. Let's get the loot and leave. This weird perverted derro party... thing is over. Ugh."
Exploring the side doors and room, you find a large but ruined dumbwaiter system to the north, now just a large pit.
Following the derros and mites through the secret door to the northeast, you find that it is the stairwell that lead up from the kitchen and pantry, passable but heavily choked with broken statuary. There are no derro or mites still to be found, apparently having fled to deeper and darker places. Following a draft, it appears that many must have fled out through the large fungus-filled cavern.
To the east, there is a door that leads to the master suite, now of the Lamashtu cleric, and, from the detailed frescoes and carvings, once those of Barek Triongger. There is a large bed, a wardrobe, and other bedroom furniture. At the rear of the chamber, a you easily find a 'secret' door leads to a hidden escape tunnel that leads to the high ledge you saw previously, with the ladder leading from the door to the lower ledge and then to the floor of the cavern.
Torvic, after downing the potion of cure light wounds, asks your help first restoring the bones of Barek Triongger to the throne, and then with clearing the area of the bodies of the derro and the mites, dumping the bodies down the slope.
The victims from earlier in the evening are, from dress and some documents, identifiable as members of Andoran's Lumber Consortium. These Torvic suggest burying outside with a stone cairn, and a good place is later found beside the trail leading up to the Gallery.
Going back downstairs to see Ozka and Lyrehawk, Merisk, and the Chelish merchant, you start to find dead in the hallway leading up to the temple a few of the mites and the wounded derros, first with arrows sticking out of them and then, as you get closer, with sword wounds. Rushing to the temple doors you find Ozka waiting impatiently but unharmed: "What?! I got bored in there waiting for you. Too tranquil!"
Soon, you leave the mountains, making your way down and back to Andoran, with the more-wounded and fractured members tied to the saddles of the mules. In Andoran, a great feast is thrown in your honor by Lyrehawk and she presents you with two magical, fey bane arrows. Merisk recovers after weeks of recovery and some potent magics. Likewise, eventually the Chelish merchant is able to identify himself as Horvet Suder, and he is able to be transported to Cheliax and reunited with his family.
Torvic quickly gets to work preserving and reclaiming the knowledge from the recovered texts, and the news and fame of the gallery spreads. Before long, Torvic, a contingent of dwarves from the Five Kings Mountains, a party of Aspodell Rangers, and a group of Pathfinder Society scholars are assembled, making their way back to glean more secrets from the Gallery of Wonders.
The End.
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Wuliem slaps his head, exclaiming,
This would have assisted?
He shows you all a vial.
School divination; Level alchemist 1, bard 1, sorcerer/wizard 1, witch 1
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
EFFECT
Range 60 ft.
Area cone-shaped emanation
Duration concentration, up to 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
This content was created for the Pathfinder rules by Paizo Publishing LLC and is part of the Pathfinder RPG product line.
DESCRIPTION
You can detect secret doors, compartments, caches, and so forth. Only passages, doors, or openings that have been specifically constructed to escape detection are detected by this spell. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.
1st Round: Presence or absence of secret doors.
2nd Round: Number of secret doors and the location of each. If an aura is outside your line of sight, then you discern its direction but not its exact location.
Each Additional Round: The mechanism or trigger for one particular secret portal closely examined by you.
Each round, you can turn to detect secret doors in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.