"All immaterial. But there. To the left."
Purpose Creche glides forward and taps Silt on the shoulder, both drawing his attention to the aboleth lurking deeper within and instilling him with new energy.
Purpose is confident that all three are illusions!
I think Toby and Harpoon still have their standard actions available if there's something they'd like to do.
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"Yeah, the one on the left is real!" Toby fires at the yellow mollusk.
Seeing his blast pass right through the creature, Toby's ears fall a bit.
"Oh. I get it now."
Riku, unsure of what’s really happening, readies to attack a creature that some near him.
”I’m not sure what is real!”
Seeing that his illusions aren't working, Onthooth moves in slightly.
He first sneers at Silt telepathically, causing reverberations of his attack last round to hit the locathah.
nonlethal damage, no save
He then laughs at all of you, a cruel and bizarre cacophony.
DC 20
Everybody up!
Onthooth
Silt
Harpoon
Purpose
Toby
Joli and Iggy
Silt grins at the evil aberration as he swims through the Cameroceras, showing his sharp teeth.
He double moves around behind the Aboleth, working to stay just out of reach of its tentacles.
Iggy shrieks, but Joli shrugs off Onthooth's assault. He sings a prayer, asking the Rillsong for strength.
"Aunty, get him!"
Poli flits over to the apparently real aboleth, lashing out with her whip.
"You don't scare me!" Toby shrugs off the aboleth's spell, swimming forward and unleashing a blast at the creature.
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"Creature. Some of us feel no pain."
Purpose Creche flits forward to caress Riku's shoulder with one manta fin; the tang of iron fills his nose, and his muscles bristle with new energy.
Silt sees his vision from when he cast the scrying on Carver Hastings! The townsfolk are here, in the cells of this room. Some of them see you and look hopeful!
Poli misses, but Toby hits! (I should have mentioned since this would be visible: Onthooth has blur up. Toby has something where he gets to ignore the concealment.)
Onthooth, -36 hp
Silt
Harpoon
Purpose
Toby
Joli and Iggy
Harpoon is up!
Wary of the first Ontooth, Riku moves into the room, and finds the second one, and with Silt approaching from behind!
”Retribution is too simple. I take no pleasure from killing, but you are too evil to let live!”
Riku fires his harpoon leg and attempts to grapple Ontooth!
Riku has trouble with his harpoon leg, but he realizes at he launches it that Onthooth doesn't seem phased at all, as though he perhaps has freedom of movement going.
The creature moves back into a corner.
"The impudence. I will perform such experiments on you. You will join my creations."
Quickened magic missile at Harpoon
Black tentacles emerge from the ground, attempting to grab everyone still in the hallway.
Onthooth, -36 hp
Silt
Harpoon
Purpose
Toby
Joli and Iggy
Once in position, Silt thinks of the villagers in the cell behind, and flies into a rage!
This will end!
"Grr, let go of me! Leggo!" Toby writhes, trying unsuccessfully to break free. When that doesn't work, tries to calm himself enough to let off a blast of water toward the aboleth.
Joli struggles against the tentacles, calling on another ancestor, Waiko Tati to smite his foe.
Poli Oka continues her assault, lashing out repeatedly.
Waiko Tati applies his full force as well.
Onthooth lashes out with a tentacle as Silt draws near.
bludgeoning and electricity and a Fortitude save
Silt, I also need a second Fortitude save for being within 5 feet of him.
Unfortunately, the blur causes Silt to miss!
Toby and Joli struggle with the tentacles grabbing at them, but both succeed at their concentration checks!
Each spiritual grippli hits once!
Onthooth, -110 hp
Silt
Harpoon
Purpose
Toby
Joli and Iggy
Harpoon and Purpose still up!
Despite Silt's concealment, the tentacle still hits!
When the tentacles burst into existence, so do the dark shapes of seven more mantas. The writhing mass pulverizes one, but the rest burst upwards through the illusory ash left by its dissolution.
The black manta struggles fruitlessly against the writhing mass of tentacles.
Purpose struggles with the mass of tentacles. Harpoon is up!
Riku reloads his harpoon leg, and then looks for an opening and attempts to tumble in close.
Harpoon looks less than graceful moving in, but it appears that your opponent cannot take more than one attack of opportunity per round. However, Harpoon does need to make a Fortitude save for being within 5 feet of the creature and in his nasty mucus cloud!
The black tentacles continue to do their thing.
The aboleth roars in anger.
nonlethal damage, no save (Supernatural ability)
He focuses very carefully on his next move.
He reaches out a tentacle to strike Harpoon.
The aboleth looks stronger!
Onthooth, -110 hp, 20 temp hp
Silt
Harpoon
Purpose
Toby
Joli and Iggy
Joli summons yet another ancestor, Loli Rama, into the fight.
His small army attacks en masse.
Toby continues to squirm, trying to summon a slick coating of ice to cover his pelt and help him escape, but the tentacles draw too much of his attention and he's unable to control the water.
"You take from others. To enrich yourself." The little manta continues struggling in the tentacles' grip. "Why do you think the Azlanti fell. Pride. Cruelty."
He catches glimpses of Joli, his ancestors, and Silt pressing in on the aboleth on all sides. "Thus always to tryants."
Silt hits with one attack, the blur getting the better of him on another. Poli hits once as does Loli.
Harpoon is up!
Onthooth, -168 hp, 20 temp hp
Silt
Harpoon
Purpose
Toby
Joli and Iggy
No, he went for Harpoon; I’m not sure why I typed Silt for damage. He’s pretty smart and missed Silt due to the displacement last time.
Technically, Onthooth is out of temp hp, but I’m leaving it there as a reminder to myself! I’m totaling all the damage still.
Riku flurries!
The aboleth shudders as one of Harpoon's attacks connects. He looks very injured.
Black tentacles do their thing.
He dismisses the black tentacles.
His wounds heal a little.
"I admit I underestimated you. Perhaps a truce then? Surely there is something I can do for you. I can offer you so much."
Silt needs to attempt a Will save.
Onthooth, -159 hp
Silt
Harpoon
Purpose
Toby
Joli and Iggy
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"F+&$ you!" The sound of crashing surf is deafening as Toby, suddenly free, swims forward, draws a shimmering lash from the surrounding water, and strikes with all his might!
Toby cares nothing for the aboleth's words, and blasts him down.
Harpoon, however, is feeling odd. After breathing in some of the mucus floating in the water, he thinks he can no longer breathe air.
The people of Talmondor's Bounty anxiously watch from the cells.
Joli moves into the cells as his spirit ancestors continue pummeling the fallen aboleth. "I'm so glad to see you all. I can only imagine what you've been through."
He examines them, trying to ascertain their state. "Do you need food? We also have means to help you swim out of here."
At last!
Silt looks around for a way to free his friends.
The people are in pretty bad shape. They look like they're starving, and many of them show signs of mutations. They shrink back when Joli enters.
"It's a trick!"
"It's one of those shapeshifters!"
"This was probably all planned! I bet that aboleth is still alive and watching us! Waiting to hurt us if we try to escape!"
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Silt holds a bloody piece of Ontooth in his claw, staining the water red as he waves it around. No trick. See? One Tooth cannot fake being in so many pieces. Come home. Old friends wait, like Karl and Cedar Cruise.
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"We're not shapeshifters! Well...I guess I kinda am, but not one of those ones! We're really us!"
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Joli looks for a flat surface within the cell and begins a song to his merciful patron. A feast and clean water fit for twenty-seven souls appears. Hot chowder, hearty bread, cooked red cabbage flavored with caraway seeds.
"Please, eat. It's real food from milady Jalaijatali. She is an empyreal lord. Friend of Sarenrae." He brings a bowl of chowder to the weakest looking captive, a gentle smile on his colorful face.
Riki shifts into his human form and gives the captives a bow.
”I am Riku Yumehito of the Pathfinder Society. I’m looking for a man named Carver. He has not reported in for some time. Is he here? Has he survived?”
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The people get a little less tense, but still eye the food nervously.
Carver is present and steps forward. "I know all of you, but please. Prove it to us. Tell us the things that only you would know and a faceless stalker wouldn't. Tell us your stories."
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Joli smiles and takes a deep breath. He begins to croak-sing.
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"I was a swab on our journey here. In truth, a refugee from the Sodden Lands. My people were driven out of our ancestral ponds by invading charau-ka. I stayed in Talmandor's Bounty in hopes of finding new lily pads for my people. And because someone had to convince Purpose that he truly has a heart."
Silt will tell of the time Karl met Medrinnah, and how she learned not to steal any gold.
She would have been a nice KarlSitter, too.
"We helped build the bar! Heck, we were the first ones to explore the empty town when we arrived on the second ship!"
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Purpose Creche tugs the iron spiral pendant from his coat. "I did my best to calm Silas's spirit. I laid the Ulfen to rest. I carry pieces of my departed family."
He gestures to the Azlanti technology that surrounds them. "I came here to use the past. To unearth Azlanti knowledge and change my future and my people's future. But I was wrong. There are many reasons this civilization died."
"My way forward lies inside me. Inside my friends. Inside Talmandor's Bounty. And a hope for a new life. A self-made. Community-made. Life."
He steps closer to Joli and the other Oathsworn.
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”Before the Pathfinder Society, I was a humble pearl diver. I arrived here later, sent by Amara Li to find you. But the long journey has been worth it. I’ve seen many strange wonders and fought terrible monsters alongside my friends here.” He gestures towards Silt and the others.
Days become weeks and months
New friendships are made”
”Do faceless stalkers know haiku?”
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Carver smiles as he hears the familiar stories and nods at recognition of Riku. "No, I don't believe faceless stalkers know poetry. They are real!"
The people hungrily dig into the food.
Purpose spends a few days operating what remains of the analytical engine to fix townspeople (and Iggy!) with mutations. You get everyone up to dry land and recover the Liberty's Herald to take the townspeople back to Talmandor's Bounty. Ramona is thrilled and relieved to have her people back and the mystery solved.
There are tears, too. Quite a few people died from Onthooth's experiments and the faceless stalkers' cruelties. The dead are remembered over several days of services and ceremonies. But there is also a sense of hope for the colony moving forward. The aboleth is defeated, and everyone can truly begin the work of making a home.
But what of the Oathsworn? What does the future hold for Silt, Toby, Purpose, Joli, Cedar, and Riku?