Bernard gets clear of the fog, and in position.
Nikolai starts climbing the planetary display
Alaneo casts his icy slick on the catwalk, but the person there avoids falling.
Masa tries reason... if falls on deaf ears.
Sheela begins casting.
The thugs continue to beat on the gnome, so Bernard's show thunks right in the yellow thugs chest, killing him.
The other thug attacks Masa, missing him with his club.
The woman above starts chanting some evil spell.
Bernard carefully takes aim, and puts a bolt in the lady's shoulder.
Nikolai clears the jump and lands on the catwalk next to the woman.
Alaneo slams an icicle into the woman's face, disabling her.
And then she falls asleep.
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Nikolai feels whatever dark magic the woman was weaving take effect upon him, and he only just grabs on to the catwalk's railing, dangling by one arm. He pulls himself onto the catwalk, only to see her fall to the ground a moment later. "Alright, might as well start restraining her, then," he says, withdrawing a stout rope from his pack.
Even without the crit, Masa puts the last thug down.
The gnome thanks you, and introduces herself as Queck Majet.
Queck explains that about an hour ago, more cultists left with six captive engineers— the six engineers who are most knowledgeable on the subject of ancient Cassomir construction.
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"Oh no! We were too late!" Sheela's hair seems to burst in different directions, carried by an unseen wind. "We had just gotten word that a cult's hideout was in the Crypt of Fools. We thought they may try to hide their tracks and came here to warn you..."
"I bet that's where they took them! Do you know where the Crypt is, roughly?"
“The entrance lies under an ancient fountain hidden somewhere below Old Cassomir, though the knowledge of its exact location was lost some time ago and finding it presents a bit of a problem. A legend among engineers tells of a series of hidden clues within three Cassomir monuments. These clues yield three locations which, when triangulated, give the location of the surface entrance to the Crypt of Fools; they also show the combination required to unlock the entrance. Look for old buildings built by the Ismacco family, whom we’ve long suspected used the Crypt of Fools as the base of their heinous operations after it fell from use.”
Bernard wakes the sleeping cultist, and tries everything he can, but they simply won't talk. They do not seem to fear being sent to Swift Prison, nor do they seem to fear dying. The best you can gather is that they believe they’ll serve at Groetus' right hand in the great beyond. You can get them carted off to the prison for you.
You can still question the engineer, who seems happy to cooperate. Or you can move on...?
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"Idiot. Lighten up a little." Sheela uses her Laughing Touch to get the woman to laugh before she's carted off to prison.
"The Ismacco family? I guess we should find out about their whereabouts. I'll ask around town. Mister Engineer, if you have any recommendations on where to start, that would be very useful."
“The Ismacco family built the Imperial Hall of Records, the Admiralty Citadel, and the Harbor Watch; laid the stone that makes up the square around Pharasma’s Pulpit; built retaining walls to shore up some of the ruins at Quickfall Abbey. Oh, you should see them - they are beautiful works of art!”
"Also, for saving me, please accept these tokens..." Queck gives you four potions of cure light wounds and a wand of detect secret doors (5 charges).
You arrive at the Imperial Hall of Records.
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Sheela looks around the Imperial Hall of Records for anything with a "I" mark on it.
"Oh, excuse me. I've heard the Ismacco Family built this Hall. Do you remember anything special? Every architect leaves their mark on a building in some way, like a signature or something."
Sheela asks a clerk for information on the history of the hall, using her charm to get him to open up a bit.
Instead she seems like a crazy clingy woman and comes off much too strongly.
Sheela is babbling at people as she looks around for a hidden symbol, when suddenly she finds it. The letter 'I' in the heart of a bas-relief at the southwest corner of the building. She recalls seeing this in one of the paintings she scrutinized in the prison.
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"Huh. Everyone here is so overwhelmed by my beauty that they're speechless. I can't get them to talk to me." Sheela strokes her hair, convinced that she's an irresistible deva.
"But look what I found!" Sheela points at the bas-releif.
"Where to next? I'd love to check out Pharasma’s Pulpit- it looks so pretty!"
Once there, Sheela starts asking people for information on what the Ismasco family did here, and where they contributed.
You hike back to the prison, and are quickly lead back to the painter. Along the way, the guard leading you says "You did know you can buy the man's paintings, right? Since you seem to like them... I don't judge other's taste in art, no I do not!"
You look at the three paintings again.
The painting created while you were there before shows a twisted perspective of the statue out front. The once-beautiful statue stares back transformed, her visage twisted into a demonic snarl. Short humanoids with large, black eyes (derro) torment cowering prisoners in the painting’s background. Brandishing a radiant holy symbol, a lone figure, Aroden, fails to fight them off. The moon iconography seems to represent Groetus.
The second painting depicts a stately, white stone building, which you now recognize as Cassomir’s Imperial Hall of Records. Three-foot-tall bas-reliefs circle the building’s outside walls at ground level, though they are warped and twisted in the crazed painter’s art. Derros stand atop the hall’s steps and seem to punish criminals—all of whom are wearing the robes of Taldan government officials. At the southwest corner of the building, the bas-relief glows a bright white. The same lone figure from the other paintings attempts to sooth a group of frightened children by playing a flute, represented by notes drifting above him.
The third painting depicts a retaining wall that shores up parts of the ruined Quickfall Abbey. It shows dozens of angry derros smashing brightly-painted urns against the retaining wall, while the same lone figure from the other paintings frantically attempts to push down an obviously barred door in the middle of the wall, presumably to escape another group of menacing derros that seems to pursue him.
The paintings are for sale for one piece of gold each. There are also some smaller abstract paintings for purchase at the price of five silver each.
5 gold should do it.
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"Right, here we go... 5 golden pieces to you, 'illuminated' painter", Bernard mocks the poor guy before leave.
... At the southwest corner of the building, the bas-relief glows a bright white. The same lone figure from the other paintings attempts to sooth a group of frightened children by playing a flute, represented by notes drifting above him ...
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Sheela stares at the frightening paintings. "So that's Groteus" she points at the moon. "That's Aroden, the dead god who represents humanity. So maybe these are telling us how they plan to destroy us all...Not a pleasant thought."
Sheela tries to trace the locations of the Aroden figure, hoping they lead to a central location.
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"Does anyone have a holy symbol? Perhaps we can activate it near the statue to see what happens. " Masa says.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Okay. What's common in these three? The figures of Aroden. The bas-relief in the Hall of Records was highlighted and I found an 'I' there." Sheela scratches her head. "Do we need to look for more glowing items?"
"Maybe we can inspect the statue again, the painter modified it." Sheela hesitates briefly, knowing it will remind her of her own consumption. "Also if we look at Quickfall Abbey, we should look at these brightly covered urns."
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Alaneo doesn't seem to have any clue about what Sheela and Masa are talking about but tries hard to catch up.
"So, you're suggesting to do one thing on each of these places? Brandish a holy symbol near the statue, play flute in the hall of records and bash this door in the abbey? I'm ok with that. But I have no holy symbol nor flute."
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"Anything's worth a shot, Kusunoki. Let's return to the Hall of Records and find where this man is playing the flute."
"You found the 'I' marked there, remember? I found nothing close to it. Judging by the paints... Well if I understand it right, we will need a flute, right? Does anybody has a flute here?"
Bernard looks a bit confused. He was never good with puzzles.