Though initially caught by surprise, the group is quick to rally to Frankie and Denair's defense. Serge charges forward and carves another great chunk out of the ooze, while Meredith and Frankie give it the business end of their sharp, pointy weapons. Even Denair fights back, slapping the ooze in return with a powerful, leafy arm. And what's more, it seems as though everyone's attacks are striking at their utmost potential, with nothing being shrugged off or resisted by any natural defenses.
But the ooze isn't down for the count yet. It tightens its grip on Denair...
+
...which may or may not send her rushing back to her home plane! And it lashes out with another pseudopod at...
...Serge, but swipes too high and catches nothing but air!
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Frankie
Jan
Serge
Meredith + Denair
Lazarus
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Ooze Surprise
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Quang Chi
Active Conditions: Bless
Environmental Conditions: None
Quang Chi is UP at the bottom of Round 1 & Frankie, Jan, Serge, Meredith + Denair (maybe) and Lazarus are UP at the top of Round 2!
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"An odd place for a trap, don't you.... Wait, what is happening?!"
Quang Chi is initially thrown for a loop and is thus surprisingly slow to act. But once he does, he steps forward behind Lazarus.
"Lazarus, what is this thing? Do you not know?"
With a nice line on the target, he lets fly with his arrows.
As Denair is squeezed tightly by the ooze Meredith instinctively gives a bit of herself to help her friend, taking some of the pain in Denair's place and keeping the eidolon anchored to the Material for just a little bit longer.
Then, the rest of the group continues to pummel the ooze. Quang Chi's arrows fly, Frankie's dagger flashes in the light, Lazarus zaps with his wand, and Meredith's longspear sinks deeply into the creature. Finally, torn and shredded and on the verge of falling apart, Serge delivers the final blow with his greatsword and the cube of not-friendly jello quivers before collapsing in on itself and turning into an ugly brown-orange puddle on the floor!
Combat Over!
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"Denair. You alright?" Meredith ignores everything to check on her eidolon. "Damn, that thing almost crushed your arm." She checks the burns and squeezes like a mother watching her hen.
She just pulls out her wand of cure light wounds and waves it Lazarus's direction. "Heal Denair, please."
After 3 uses, the wand burns out. "It's fine. Thank you."
"I'm okay, Frankie. I'm okay. Are you okay?" Denair turns to Frankie to make sure he's unharmed.
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"So, Francis, what have we learned about traps today, young man?" Lazarus asks deadpan, before finally cracking a grin.
"I learned you defend your friends at all costs!" Frankie squints his eyes at Lazarus' stupid question. He smiles as Denair asks him if he's ok. "I'm better, much better."
Frankie then goes about asking Desna to perform miracles, healing Meredith's and Denny's wounds. Once he's warmed up the miracles flow like water.
If you look closely you can see Frankie has a wand poking out of his sleeve as he 'works miracles'.
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Serge wipes the ooze goop off of his blade. "Strangely, it smells oddly of... fruit. Speaking of fruit, I had once adventured with an alchemist who had a certain mastery of concocting delicious, fruit-based drinks. Do you remember, Meredith? Nothing like chasing a sleepwalking Pathfinder through the wilderness while sipping on a double coconut shake." The paladin subtly laughs.
The last bit of burnt orange ooze falls off Serge's blade. "Apologies, I digress. I can lay my hands upon you for additional healing, if anyone needs it."
"Oh! Uh, thank you Frankie. Make sure to ask Desna to help Meredith, too."
After Frankie prays 6 times, Meredith and Denair are as good as new. "But you're right. We look out for each other. As long as we work together no one can stop us."
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"Desna... did that?" Meredith feels a lot better after Frankie finishes his (long and kind of rambling) prayer. "I don't understand it all, but... um. Thanks."
Before she has time to ponder about what happened, Serge catches her attention. "Oh yeah. He was fun to work with. A little... uncouth, but I did like his spear. He kept calling it leafy."
Once the party is ready, Meredith looks to the northeast. "So, what's around that corner?"
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"This alchemist sounds very unusual." Like so many of the people I meet in Avistan, Quang Chi finishes silently as he looks around at his current group of colleagues.
Watching Frankie "work miracles," Quang Chi quickly checks his pack to make sure his "little miracle" is still secure.
"Apologies," he comments to Serge and the others, "but I have recently learned to do healing also. And this wand is mostly unused," he notes as he offers up his wand of healing.
Meredith: 10
Frankie: 25 + Trap Spotter / Frankie Stealth: 22
Jan: 19
Serge: 12
Lazarus: 22
Denair: 25 / Denair Stealth: 27
Quang Chi: 25
After utilizing means mundane and miraculous your wounds are mended and you're ready to press on - hopefully without running across any additional oozes-as-traps. Who came up with such a thing, anyway?
Still a bit sore at being scolded, Frankie skulks away through the northeast passage which leads to yet another set of old, ruined barracks. Given that this is the third such room you've encountered, this fortress was clearly designed to be able to house a large number of crusaders during its heyday. More passages lead out of this room to the northwest, north, east, and south. Frankie and Denair quickly work out that the eastern passage will take the group back towards the first set of barracks and the chamber with the naga statue but is also the same passage in danger of caving in. And the southern passage returns to the intersection leading to the first set of barracks, the alchemy lab, and back to the entry hall.
The passages to the northwest and north lead to places as yet unknown.
Though you don't really expect to find much of anything here - if many of the previous chambers are any indication - the group of you fan out and begin to search through the collapsed bunks and rotted furniture just the same.
You very nearly miss it but the light from one of your dancing lights reflects off of something buried amidst a pile of metal and rotten wood that was probably once a small chest for personal belongings. A rusted and dented metal tin. It doesn't radiate any magical auras nor does it seem to be locked.
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"I very nearly missed it, but the illumination from one of my dancing lights is reflecting off of something buried amidst that pile of metal and rotten wood."
"The rusted and dented metal tin was probably once a small chest for personal belongings."
"It doesn't radiate any magical auras, nor does it seem to be locked."
Lazarus catches the eye of Frankie. "Francis, care to take a look?"
Frankie gives Lazarus a slightly surly look but then nods, his natural curiosity getting the better of him.
"Just looks like an old busted box but okay," he agrees as he comes over to have a look. Reaching down he picks up the box and holds it at eye-level; as he does he blinks and then his eyes widen.
"Smells like chocolate! Maybe it's got ancient super-strong cocoa of butt-kicking inside!"
He eagerly pops off the tin's lid - after a little bit of effort as it seems to be stuck - but then his expression droops.
"Aw man, it's empty! There's only a dumb note in here," he grumbles, gingerly lifting it up for the rest of you to see. Old and faded and yellowed, it's a single piece of parchment with a message written on it:
히로마사에게
애정을 가지고,
아키나
"Oh, it's got that funny symbol-writing on it. Maybe Lazarus and Quang Chi can read it?"
To my Hiromasa
With affection,
Akina
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"I am indeed, my friend," he replies to Lazarus. "Hiromasa. A Minkai man's given name. So not one of the three women samurai."
After politely asking Frankie to let him examine the box, he turns it over in his hands thoughtfully and carefully, looking at the detail and decoration.
"A box like this would usually hold tea," he says before taking a sniff. "But it does indeed smell more like cocoa or chocolate. A rare and special gift, then, from Akina to Hiromasa."
He takes out a small cloth and begins cleaning the Tian artifact, meticulously working the dust out of the inlay.
It reminds me of the tea tins Father would bring home from his trading trips to Minkai. Before....
If no one objects, he returns the note to the cleaned box and places it carefully in his pack.
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"히로마사에게 애정을 가지고, 아키나 'To my Hiromasa, With affection, Akina.'" Lazarus, having puzzled out the script's meaning, reads it aloud to his companions.
"Yohanatotsu Akina was also the name inscribed on the lid of the empty sarcophagus in the southern chamber where we found the holy symbol of Shizuru."
"I wonder who Hiromasa was... " the wizard-priest muses. I really must devote some time to learning Tien. Perhaps after this mission."
Denair looks at the box. Smells nice. Gifts are nice.
She skulks north.
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Jan stands patiently by as the others search the area. When Laz starts too take to long hovering over various ancient symbols and foreign languages (which is often) Jan clears his throat,"Mmmm, we ain't here for you to write a book on ancient Tyrion... Troyen... T-I-E-N warriors and such. Let's get going."
Meredith: 10
Frankie: 25 + Trap Spotter / Frankie Stealth: 22
Jan: 19
Serge: 12
Lazarus: 22
Denair: 25 / Denair Stealth: 27
Quang Chi: 25
Deciding to take the lead this time, Denair skulks away up the northern passage. As she does, she glances down the hallway to her left and sees that it leads to what appears to be an old storeroom of some sort. Opting to leave it for the moment, she continues north and down a short set of steps, another large chamber opening before her.
Three statues of lantern archons cast a steady light from the alcoves in this room. Murals depicting dog-headed figures and angelic humanoids battling undead horrors cover the walls. There's also a single shrine in this room, marked by Minkai writing. Strangely - since none of the other shrines you've found were like this - it seems to have been desecrated at some point and is in rather poor shape.
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Frankie follows along behind Denny, poking his head into the room for a moment to see if anything is ready to grab him. It doesn't so he sneaks through to look around the corner to the north, in case something is hiding there too. I'll let them guys look at that statue with all the wieners on it. Pretty silly!
Once he's checked around the corner he comes back and looks around with the others, sticking close to Meredith. "So who's this guy? And this guy? And that thing?" He asks, pointing to the statues, murals, and shrine.
After a bit of searching around, Frankie and Denair are certain that this celestial gallery holds no hidden traps or hazards and are able to wave the rest of you to join them. When Lazarus (as well as Meredith & Quang Chi) scan about for magical auras, the only ones that register are the auras surrounding the statues of the three lantern archons. Further study reveals them to be Continual Flame spells, heightened to be more powerful than usual.
Understandably curious about the murals, Lazarus studies them for a moment and comes to the conclusion that they depict no single battle but rather an ongoing theme - the clash of heavenly archons against the forces of the Whispering Tyrant.
As for the poor, desecrated shrine, even without knowing the language Lazarus is easily able to identify it as a shrine to the Yohanatotsu family. It could probably be cleaned of the dried blood and excrement that covers it but it would take a delicate hand to do so without damaging it.
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Though it's painstakingly slow, Lazarus sets to work, gently scrubbing the Yohanatotsu shrine with a little prestidigitation. Once finished, the wizard-priests offers a prayerful blessing for the family. "May your spirits, those of your noble ancestors, and your descendants find peace."
He glances over at the little rogue.
"Francis, you might try rubbing the bellies of the hound archon statues for good luck," the samsaran says. "You never know."
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Lagging behind the rest of the group, Quang Chi finally enters the chamber to find Lazarus puzzling over the Tien inscriptions.
"You know, my friend, if you waited just a moment, I could read these for you," he says to the wizard-priest with a teasing twinkle in his eye. "Or if you want, I could teach you my language later," he then offers.
As he looks around at the room and specifically the family shrine, he wonders aloud, "Akina's tomb was disturbed, and this her family shrine was purposefully fouled. Who would do this?"
Quang Chi kneels down to begin cleaning the excrement and waste away, but quickly realizes he will only succeed in damaging the fragile pieces. He bows deeply and offers a prayer of apology to the family's spirits as he backs away crestfallen. But when he sees Lazarus using magic to accomplish what he could not, he offers a smile and deep bow of appreciation to the samsaran.
"Francis, you might try rubbing the bellies of the hound archon statues for good luck."
"That's not how.... {sigh}"
"They have cute noses. But don't rub the noses of real doggies unless they really, REALLY like you!" Denair uses her own prestidigitation magic to help scrub and clean the gallery.
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Jan waits patiently by at Laz and Denair use their combined magical abilities to clean and restore the family shrine.
"That was a good thing to do. The Gods are not the only ones who watch over the living. The spirits of ancestors and great heroes do so as well. Perhaps the ancestral spirits honored here will aid us in our adventures here."
Jan twitches his muscles as the group prepares to leave the shrine.
"I hope we find a good fight soon!"
*note- Depending on how long it takes for the shrine to be cleansed Jan might have time to perform a ritual spell (1 hour)- Rite of Bodily Purity (if so, I will mark off the cost of the material components).
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Serge is about to use the smooth end of his greatsword to force out any further stuck pieces of poop with as much care as he can, but the sparkle and shine Lazarus restores to the shrine leaves little need for such a thing. Serge just nods with satisfaction and continues noisily clanging on to the next area.
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"Francis, you might try rubbing the bellies of the hound archon statues for good luck," the samsaran says. "You never know."
"I dunno.." Frankie looks between Laz and Chi, uncertain of himself and Laz's suggestion. "I like dogs, and they usually like me too. Usually." He heads over and does pat each dog nicely on the head while the others clean. Frankie isn't one to clean unless bribed or ordered by Mom.
"Spirits are nice too Jan? They aren't mean like ghosts?" Frankie asks as he steps back away from the statues and starts heading to sneak to the north.
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Though Serge and Quang Chi mean well, it quickly becomes apparent that their ideas about how to best cleanse and restore the desecrated shrine would likely make matters worse instead of better. Luckily Lazarus and Denair are able to gently clean off the blood and excrement by way of magic, though even that takes a few minutes to accomplish.
As you take a few moments to admire the pair's handiwork, the lights that emanate from the statues - as well as your own lights - flicker slightly. There's a faint brush of wind, as though someone or something had been waiting with bated breath...and slowly exhaled with relief. You all feel a sense of rightness settle over you as you stand in the celestial gallery and somehow, you know that you do good deeds here - even if they seem small in the grand scheme of things.
Yet even with this development, you still have many questions. What happened in this place? Who disturbed Akina's tomb and desecrated her family shrine? Can you actually rub the belly of a hound archon, real or otherwise, for good fortune? Or is Lazarus perhaps thinking of the Laughing Man or Beckoning Cat, instead? While some of these questions can likely be answered with a good lecture or two from Quang Chi, others require further investigation. And so once the group is ready, Frankie and Denair skulk off towards the north...
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Frankie: 25 + Trap Spotter / Frankie Stealth: 22
Denair: 25 / Denair Stealth: 27
Taking the lead once more, Frankie and Denair creep away towards the north and down a short flight of stone steps into an empty chamber that seems to be little more than an intersection. Four passages lead away from the chamber; two leading up short flights to stairs to the east and two that lead down short flights of stairs to the west.
But the nearest western passage Denair and Frankie can actually see down, which opens into a large, dead-end chamber. Four large, unadorned stone sarcophagi stand upright in alcoves along the north and south edges of this chamber, while a fifth stands on a small platform to the west. Above the platform, a large inscription reads, "They gave their lives to battle death."
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Seeing the coast is clear of obvious threats, Frankie sneaks back to get the others before creeping down into the dead end room with the standing coffins. He pokes his head quietly around the corner, just like he does scoping out the enemy bases in capture the flag.
"Looks clear from here, get in there Denny!"
Given the all-clear from Frankie, the rest of the group begins to move up as well. Quang Chi decides to circle around and cover the large tomb from its northern entrance - just in case - while Serge comes right up behind Frankie and peers over his head and into the chamber.
You wait, and watch. But nothing happens and nothing seems to stir. From what Frankie and Quang Chi can see at their respective positions, there don't seem to be any traps at either of the entrances to the crypt.
All is quiet.