"These ruins? Hmm, yes, that's quite a good question but alas, it doesn't have a satisfactory answer! Not yet, at any rate," Obahar laments. "You already spoke to Kehlaviya, yes? The way I understand it is that her team had only just begun their excavations here when that deranged fiend came screaming out of the ruins! So you see, we haven't had the chance to actually learn anything about the history of this particular section; things have all been tied up in bureaucratic red-tape and the like, waiting for 'qualified experts' to arrive and investigate the matter further."
Obahar beams. "And now that you've arrived, I do sincerely hope that you'll be able to make headway in learning about the site itself as well as the fiend that was buried here."
"As to why a fiend would have been within the ruins, your guess is as good as mine," the scholar adds. "Perhaps it was bound there as some manner of guardian or intentionally imprisoned, but I can't say for certain. If we're lucky, there'll be some manner of clues or other evidence within that will shed some light on the matter."
"That said...you suspect the fiend might've been a doru div?" Obahar pauses, looking thoughtful. "The least of the divs, often acting as servants and messengers of their more powerful brethren. And, occasionally, mortal spellcasters. Hmm..."
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Maria adds the last couple notes and then slips her journal into her pack. She nods to Rumble, "You are correct Sir Dwarf and I'm glad you said it in that order, we do not want to smash any of the ruin."
The elf pulls out her bow, "But we will be prepared for any dangers, including more powerful divs..." she looks over at Hep, "...if they require stopping of course."
"Yes, it just came screaming out by all accounts," Obahar nods. "As to why it was right there and not somewhere further in, I'm not sure. That said, excavation is a noisy business so maybe it heard the diggers from the other side of the wall and waited for just the right moment."
The scholar then beams at Rumble and slaps the dwarf on the back in a friendly gesture. "That's the spirit! That go-get-'em spirit Pathfinders are known for, yes? Now come on, off you go! And good luck in there!"
And so with little else to do but head into the ruins you gird your loins and anything else that might need girding and proceed into the opened tunnel, the air cooling as it leads deeper beneath Merab. Wooden supports shore up the walls in more precarious spots, and abandoned side tunnels show where the crew explored layers of older construction beneath the dig site. Eventually, the tunnel intersects a wall of much older construction than the surrounding area. Sledgehammers and other tools lie outside a hole in the wall large enough for a person to step through that opens onto a large room. The southern part of the room is largely collapsed. A sprawling message in red symbols covers the floor and passages lead out of the room to the west and to the north.
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Hepsubia might as well has disappeared. She keeps her eyes and ears open, in case of trouble (but can't even see herself, a well known source of troubles..)
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Maria girds her thoughts, focus on the mission!
She waits for the all clear and then moves in to check out the room. Seeing Zithembe activate a light source, she does the same with her own ioun torch and immediately begins researching the writing.
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As Maria and Zithembe enter the large chamber, Parison takes a moment to draw his scimitar from its sheath. He draws back in a surprised flinch with a sharp intake of breath as Hepsubia has seemingly vanished from in front of him.
I'm just glad she's on our side, he thinks to himself as he steps into the chamber and to the right, putting his back against the wall. As the pair try to discern the symbols, the cleric watches the other exits from the chamber.
Ready to examine the strange writings Zithembe is the first to step through the doorway and into the chamber. As he does, the symbols on the floor writhe into a spiral and a deep, feminine, voice echoes in everyone's mind:
{Pathetic slave! Your base obsession with secrets served its purpose for a time, but you have grown tiresome. And now you dare to turn this obsession against me?! Foolish! You could have served a higher purpose, empowering me for all eternity. Now, for your defiance, you will grow to hate your immortality. You will wallow in ignorance forever, and even I, your master, will forget you!}
You can think of several creatures that are obsessed with secrets, such as the powerful nalfeshnee demons and the ambitious doru divs. But given what you learned from the excavation workers it seems most likely that the voice you heard in your mind was referring to a doru.
The voice fades and the symbols return to their original configuration. Seems they were - or still are - magical, indeed! While Zithembe and Maria further examine the symbols for any additional information or clues Hepsubia vanishes into the shadows as she keep her eyes open for traps or anything sinister approaching. Parison too keeps a sharp lookout, preferring to leave the study of the symbols to those more versed in arcane matters.
While Zithembe does determine that the symbols radiate auras of conjuration and illusion they don't really resemble any languages that either he or Maria are familiar with. Besides being very, very old, there doesn't seem to be much else to be learned about them.
Exits from this entry chamber lead away to the west and to the north.
It's quiet.
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"I can only guess--given the context--that the being released was the slave this arcane message is referring to," Zithembe says. "The creature was trapped here for the intervening centuries until freed by the excavation. It may very well be mad from isolation at this point."
The shabti's jade face is pensive as he follows after Rumble.
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"I'm not intimately familiar with the inner workings of Pharasma's theology, Effie, but that would be very out of character for a goddess who assigns the souls who come before her their eternal place in afterlife," Parison says.
"Lead on, Rumble," the cleric says to the dwarf in a tone that excudes confidence in Torag's disciple. "And let's find what there is to be found here."
Though mightily puzzled by the strange message it does seem to make the likely origins of the escaped fiend a little clearer. With this new information fresh in your minds you decide to continue to the west, Rumble leading the way through the narrow passage and into the next chamber.
Broken marble litters the southern corners of this room, where a pair of toppled statues brandishing curved stone swords must once have reached nearly to the ceiling. Many broken weapons lie scattered about the room. A set of stairs in the northwestern corner of the room rise to a platform 10 feet high, which turns a corner and disappears to the north.
As the party enters a pair of skeletal figures stir to life, shaking off centuries of dust and raising rusty blades!
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Zithembe
Maria
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Skeleton Blue
Skeleton Red
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Effie
Hepsubia
Rumble
Parison
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Zithembe and Maria are UP!
As Maria moves up to get a good look at what's making the noise in the next chamber she instantly recognizes just what they are and also manages to recall quite a bit about them. But there's not actually that much to recall. While she knows that skeletal champions don't possess any particularly special attacks, defenses, or abilities, they do resist strikes from non-bludgeoning weapons and also possess slightly greater resistance to channeled energy than some types of undead.
Maria raises her bow and fires off a shot at Red with one of her blunt arrows; even owing for Rumble standing in the doorway the arrow flies true and connects against the skeleton's ribcage with resounding *CRACK*!
Zithembe follows this up by moving into the room and cracking Red across the lower jaw with the heavy, blunt ring on his kunai! Though it's not as strong of a hit as he'd initially thought it's still a solid one and Red loses some teeth from it.
With the shabti right up in his grill Red takes the obvious approach and tries to return tit-for-tat as it swings the longsword in its hand...
...but misses by a country mile! Blue decides to join in on the action, clattering down the stone steps as it too moves to engage Zithembe...
...and fares no better than his friend.
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Zithembe
Maria
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Skeleton Blue
Skeleton Red
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Effie
Hepsubia
Rumble
Parison
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Effie, Hepsubia, Rumble and Parison are UP at the bottom of Round 1!
A little too slow to get any shots off before the skeletons advance forward, Effie falls back on telling really bad jokes to inspire and amuse her comrades!
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Zithembe
Maria
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Skeleton Blue
Skeleton Red
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Effie
Hepsubia
Rumble
Parison
Active Conditions: Inspire Courage +1
Environmental Conditions: None
Hepsubia, Rumble and Parison are UP at the bottom of Round 1!
Hepsubia gracefully tumbles onto the scene, rolling past Blue and then leaping to her feet to strike with her sword before the skeleton even knows what's happening. While the elf's strike goes wide it was still quite the smooth move otherwise!
Then, in a completely opposite manner, Rumble bellows out a challenge and moves in for a piece of the action as well! Blue does try to take a swipe as the dwarf sidles past...
...and a mighty swipe it is, opening a vicious wound across Rumble's upper arm! But as always, Rumble gives as good as he gets and shatters Red's skull with one decisive blow from Sledge!
Meanwhile Parison hangs back, waiting for the perfect moment to act!
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Zithembe
Maria
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Skeleton Blue
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Effie
Hepsubia
Rumble
Parison
Active Conditions: Inspire Courage +1
Environmental Conditions: None
Zithembe and Maria are UP at the top of Round 2! Parison may also act at any time!
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Maria sees Hep's success and can't allow herself to be out-elfed so she slips off her backpack to gain a bit of agility. What follows is an attempted tumble into the room diving past the remaining enemy and ends with her popping up into an archer's stance, releasing another carefully aimed blunt arrow at the skeleton.
for
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Everything happened so fast that Parison did not have time to react. The appearance of the skeletons, Maria's warnings as to what they were, everyone moving in. It seemed almost as if everything were moving twice the normal speed.
Then he saw Rumble take a vicious wound from one of the skeletons, even as the dwarf shattered it with his mighty hammer. But another fleshless champion remained and it was enough to snap Parison out of his momentary paralysis.
He dashed into the room just behind his battle buddy. "Goddess," he says, holding up his holy symbol in prayer, "please bless my friends with your healing touch." In answer to his plea, the essence of the Dawnflower fills the area around him as he channels her goodness through him and outward.
Feeling pressured to keep up with Hepsubia's antics Maria executes a daring roll into the room and past Blue, reaching a spot a few feet past Blue and popping up into an archer's stance with a single, fluid motion. Another arrow flies and slams into one of Blue's ribs, shattering it in a shower of bone fragments!
Assured that his companions have the remaining skeleton itself in hand, Parison moves into the room as well but takes care to stay clear of Blue and out of the way. A quick burst of positive energy courtesy of Sarenrae follows and mends a good portion of Rumble's wounds.
Confident that Blue won't last much longer Zithembe takes advantage of the flank set up by Rumble and swings at the skeleton, but it proves to be more difficult to hit than expected and the strike catches only air.
Though surrounded Blue continues to fight on, a cold blue light shining from within empty eye sockets as it attempts to undo Parison's healing efforts on Rumble...
...to unfortunately spectacular effect. But it still isn't enough to put the dwarf down, not yet.
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Zithembe
Parison
Maria
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Skeleton Blue
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Effie
Hepsubia
Rumble
Active Conditions: Inspire Courage +1
Environmental Conditions: None
Effie, Hepsubia and Rumble are UP at the bottom of Round 2!
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Rumble coughs blood onto the floor as the skeleton settles back into its fighting stance after gutting the Dwarf. "BAH! Ye dust-brained fool, it'll take more tha' thah tah take us down!" he boasts, leveling his eyes at the cold blue lights of the skeleton's skull. The blood, sweat, and heaving breath suggest their foe isn't off by much though. "Parison, turn yer holy lights on tha beastie, aye'll keep ih busy."
Desperately, he swings Sledge at the skeleton's legs.
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Not wanting to leave her friends to deal with the skeleton without her, Effie approaches the group. Finding the melee unsuitable for pistol-fire, she pulls her elephant knife and gives it a flourish. It's a brutal-looking weapon, and though Effie wields it fluidly she can't help but appear clumsy in comparison to her skill with a gun.
"I got your back, Rumble!" Effie spins the blade in a defensive manoeuvre, hoping to deflect the skeletal warrior's blade.
"This undead mister ain't gonna get the better of us: he hasn't got the guts to take us on!"
Hepsubia finds herself in awe - and possibly even a little afraid - of the remaining skeleton's brutal attack on Rumble, so much so that she's completely unable to keep her sword arm steady enough to strike it. Rumble also finds himself unable to connect with Sledge, the great hammer *whooshing* through the air as Blue ducks the attack. And to the surprise of everyone, Effie draws a nasty-looking knife and joins the fray in an attempt to distract Blue from Rumble. While her distraction attempt doesn't seem to be very successful she remains ever-chipper, delivering another terrible joke to bolster the group's spirits.
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Zithembe
Parison
Maria
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Skeleton Blue
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Effie
Hepsubia
Rumble
Active Conditions: Inspire Courage +1
Environmental Conditions: None
Zithembe, Parison and Maria are UP at the top of Round 3!
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A look of concern crosses Parison's face as he witnesses just how formidable a foe this skeletal champion is. In spite of Maria's knowledge of its high tolerance of the effects of positive energy and his concerns that his connection with Sarenrae might not be enough to stop it, he realizes that he has to try.
The cleric shifts to his right, looking over Rumble's shoulder at the undead monstrosity. "Sarenrae," he says, presenting his holy symbol where the skeleton can see it, "let your essence end this spirit's torment and grant it rest." In response, a burning light fills the room, illuminating everyone in its divine light but only seemes to adversely affect the skeletal champion.
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The group is quick to rally to Rumble's defense in light of the second vicious attack on the dwarf. Zithembe attempts to finish the skeleton off but now that the group no longer has the element of speed on their side it turns out to be more difficult to strike than expected.
But while the skeleton can dodge a ball blade, it can't dodge Parison's wave of holy energy. Even with its inherent resistance to channeled energy the skeleton proves no match for Sarenrae's divine power and it crumbles to dust!
Combat Over!
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Maria holds her shot as Parison's divine might crumbles the skeleton to chunks of bone. She takes a deep breath and pulls out a wand while looking around, "You okay Rumble? You took a couple hard shots there. I finally figured out how to activate these fancy healing sticks if you need some help."
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Later on when things are resolved she slips back into the other room and grabs her pack, slinging it back over her shoulder.
She asks her allies, "Any intel about our mission here or valuables on the skeletons?" She looks around the new room as well for similar things.
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Rumble slumps a little with fatigue as the skeleton crumbles before Sarenrae's divinity. Way too close. Underestimated them, didn't think I'd need to bring Torag into this. Almost dead wrong.
"Aye'll take some o' thah, if yer offerin'," he says to Maria and Parison. "Overconfident, aye'll admit ih," he confesses.
Eyeing the pack Maria retrieved, he gives her a questioning look. "Whah do ye say tah me carryin' tha pack? Ah least fer ah deposit on wha' aye owe ye fer tha healin'!"
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Eyeing the pack Maria retrieved, he gives her a questioning look. "Whah do ye say tah me carryin' tha pack? Ah least fer ah deposit on wha' aye owe ye fer tha healin'!"
The elf's eyes brighten up a bit, "Oh, you don't mind? That would be great! I've got stuff in there I need but don't always need right now, if that makes sense. You don't mind the extra weight? I'm not the strongest being, so it would be a big favor. Just hold on a sec, let me reorganize a couple things."
She checks her pockets and the pack, swapping a couple flasks around between the two and then hands the pack to Rumble.