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"I'm mousht, ungoou fotlry yougnhis manont beacathy mere nha what pink!" Lord Braggett protests loudly, trying his best to bat Hanlin's unwelcome advances away. However, the cleric manages to lay a finger on the bewildered knight, snapping him out of his funk. "Ahem... Thank you, Sir!" He offers a quick salute before turning towards the stunned devil and angrily challenges it. "I almost hurt my oldest friend because of you. Prepare to be TENDERISED!" He lays into the phiam with everything he's got, whirling his flail as fast as he can, Sir Kibble doing his best to help out.
Kibble:
Standard: Aid Braggett's next attack
Braggett:
Swift: Challenge the Devil
Standard: Attack the Devil
The first time Kibble is hit in a round, Braggett will use the Mounted Combat feat, and as an immediate action to try and negate any damage. The hit is negated if the Ride check result is greater than the opponent's attack roll.
For the first two adjacent allies (including Braggett) who are targeted for an attack, Kibble will use the Bodyguard feat to use an AoO and boost their AC.
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Erlathan is proud of himself for disabling the phiam. Proud enough to applaud his own performance and even take a bow. "I told you I was more than just a fancy staff and some magic missiles. That said, why ruin a good formula?" He points his quarterstaff of entwined serpents once more and spews two snake bolts at the devil.
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Lord Braggett and Erlathan combine to send the phiam's soul straight to hell.
Ending the fiend's life also breaks the horrible curse on Lilli, Sir Kibble, Nina, and Inky.
Once Lilli comes to her senses, she starts mumbling through her lace doily gag. "Mmph! Argh!"
"Thank you, Pathfinders. I wish there was more I could offer you, but all I have left to give is my gratitude," Gallus Crevac says, as he unties the bindings on his apprentice. He disappears into the kitchen and returns with a cleaver. With a satisfying thud, he removes the curse devil's head from its shoulders. He looks over the party, before handing the head to Bishop. "If you present this to Proum, I'm certain the mayor will reward you."
"Lilli, you've made quite a mess of the archives. Clean it up first, then we'll have some goat's milk and biscuits, while I read you a short treatise on infernal possession and curses, before we retire for the evening."
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"It was an honour to serve, Sir!" Lord Braggett says as the devil's head is handed to Bishop. "Your gratitude is payment enough. Just be sure to let the people know how we heroically defeated this despicable devil. For it is only by passing such stories that people will know how vigilant they must be of the signs of curses among their friends and family. After all, we cannot always be here to save the day." The safety conscious, and not at all vain, knight warns.
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"I guess we should do that, then," Nina replies. "It might also be a good bit of uh...what's the term? Oh! PR! That's it! Yeah, it'll be good PR for the people to see us hauling a devil head around and maybe it'll make any other lurking devils think twice about getting up to any shenanigans around here!"
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On the way to a late night call upon the mayor, Vegazi clears her throat. "I know there's a quarantine, but we need better kit, if we're going to have a chance against Kelseph."
She draws her silver raven figurine of wondrous power out of her belt pouch. "We could send a list of what we need to your handsome paladin friend in Vigil. We could arrange for a meeting somewhere outside the walls after we rescue the scouts."
She coughs, uncomfortable with initiating conversation, waiting for your reaction to her suggestion.
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The party trudges up to the Arwyll Estate, and Hanlin hammers his fist against the door. Somewhere inside, a candle is lit. The light slipping through the shuttered windows flickers, as someone descends the creaking stairs.
The door opens, and Mayor Proum peers out, dressed in a nightshirt and holding a candle aloft. Behind him in the dim light at the top of the grand staircase you see a feminine figure, disheveled hair and gown askew, peering at the activity on the threshold of the manor. Shovann Orda, maybe?
"Ah, Pathfinders. It's late, what can I do for you at this hour?" the mayor greets you in a strained voice.
Bishop proudly displays the curse devil's severed head.
Incandescence is ready for bed, so she does her best to get straight to the point. "Mayor Proum, we slew a terrible fiend plaguing Arwyll Stead. If there's a reward, we'd like to claim it, so we can all go get some sleep. What do you say?"
The mayor's eyes grow big as saucers, "Guess I imposed the quarantine too late. Well, better late than never. Wait here. I'll be back in a moment."
He leaves the door cracked and heads over to the massive fireplace, its embers glowing in the hearth. He pulls over a stool, and from above the mantle, he takes down a heavy steel shield, emblazoned with the Arwyll family's badger crest.
"Please accept this gift. It's small enough recompense for the service you've provided Arwyll Stead."
He bids you good night and shuts the door.
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Lord Braggett takes the shield, admiring the crest and testing its weight to see if he'd be able to use it himself, "Well, we may not have found much in the way of supplies..." He says, tentatively trying the shield on for size. "But those scouts are still in need of our help. What do you say, friends? Shall we march bravely into the night and stage a heroically daring dawn raid on our enemy's camp?"
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Everybody drags themselves back to the Blissful Badger, mumbles good night to Isald Forgemore, climbs the stairs, and tumbles into bed.
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Vegazi wakes you an hour or so before sunrise. "If we're going to enter the secret tunnels beneath the Arwyll Estate, we'd better do it before the rest of the Stead gets out of bed."
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You've had your hands tied by Mayor Proum, who refuses to negotiate with the Hell’s Fury tribe or let anyone risk their lives outside the town’s walls. But Scoutmaster Terrin has asked you to sneak out of town by way of a secret tunnel under the Arwyll Estate to rescue his scouts. The fiends have already dropped the corpse of one of his scouts in the middle of town. A grisly sight you're likely not soon to forget.
Entering a servant's entrance at the manor is easier than you'd expected, and you find a trapdoor in the floor of a pantry closet off the kitchen.
You squeeze through the trapdoor and enter a dark, unfinished cellar.
Blankets, broken bottles, candlesticks, and other detritus litter the room. The walls are made of stone and packed dirt, and the only obvious exit is a crumbling ladder leading up to a trap door in the ceiling. A large flat stone has been propped against the northern wall. The eastern corner of the room glows lightly with warm yellow light.
This dusty, unfinished cellar room is where Terrin and Wate met for their secret trysts during their rebellious teenage years. Terrin would brave the long tunnel leading from outside Arwyll Stead into the cellar, and Wate would climb down the trap door secreted in his family’s manor. A thin layer of dust covers everything in the cellar. On the shelf in the corner are some moth-eaten blankets, several spent candles, and a few uneaten sweets long gone stale.
The secret door on the northern side of this chamber is hardly a secret from this side, since the walls of the room are packed dirt and stone, the broad flat stone covering the exit is obvious even at a glance.
A cluster of half a dozen housecat-sized beetles, their dull brown color brightened by two glowing green-yellow spots on their carapaces, has made this cellar their home. One of them recently knocked over an unopened bottle of wine on the shelf to the east, and now the beetles feed hungrily upon the spilled contents.
The housekeepers of Arwyll Stead cleared out most of this cellar in recent years, since the household has become too small to warrant the cellar’s continued use, but they did miss several items, including an ornate gold-and-silver ring, three bottles of wine, and a book. Unfortunately, retrieving the loot would probably disturb the beetles.
In addition, everybody (except Nina and Inky) spots part of an amulet behind the bookcase where the beetles were nesting.
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As the way starts to get darker, Lord Braggett pulls a small stone from his pack. It appears to be on fire even though it gives off no heat, and Braggett throws it in the air, but instead of falling down again, the stone starts floating around in circles above his head. "I've got a good beetle destroying weapon!" He offers, drawing his flail, "I find bludgeoning works quite effectively against such things." He rides up beside Hanlin to take a closer look and exclaims. "Aha! I recognise these critters. They're flash beetles, an advanced species of fire beetle. Why, I once saved a damsel when her home was infested with hundreds of the blighters." He goes on to describe, in great detail, of how he avoided the special attacks and took advantage of their weaknesses.
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Erlathan waves his hands and creates a set of magical lightbulbs that serve to illuminate the area well.
"I was hoping you might ask, Hanlin," the elf smiles. "A flail will work just as well, Lord Braggett, and while fire itself may not affect them much, if at all, I can alter the element of my evocations at will." He opens a palm and create a small, candle-sized flame, then transform it into a snowball, a crackling ball of lightning, a gurgling pot of acid, and finally back to fire. He's smiling ear to ear as he does this, proud someone had asked about his abilities.
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The darkness in the unfinished cellar brightens as soon as the priest, literally in shining armor, climbs through the trapdoor in the ceiling. Erlathan adds his own illuminating light show.
Lord Braggett recalls that a flash beetle is an advanced fire beetle that can create a bright flash of light once an hour. When a flash beetle does so, all creatures in a 10-foot burst must make a Fortitude save or be dazzled for a few seconds. While they don't have any unusual weaknesses, they are immune to mind-affecting effects.
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Erlathan warns everyone to get out of the way of his arcane fury. As soon as he judges they're safe, he unleashes a powerful wintry blast at the beetles, and the vermin die.
Taking care not to damage the treasures encrusted in ice, you examine what you've found.
The tome is a heritage book with details on the Arwyll family.
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"Aha, good show, Sir!" Lord Braggett cheers as Erlathan channels his inner Elsa. "That would've come in mighty handy all those years ago-" Something catches his eye. "Aaah, look at this!" He exclaims as heads over to pick the heavy tome up, blowing off the dust and ice. "It's absolutely fascinating, wouldn't you say? A noble family indeed..." He flicks through the pages with some interest, leaving the identification of the other trinkets to those more qualified.
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"Miss Nina, don't fret. Sometimes it just takes a second set of eyes," Erlathan smiles, eyeing the amulet.
"Of course. This is an Everwake Amulet! Wear it, and you can regain your magical usages and other abilities for the day without sleep! Marvelous!" Erlathan tosses the amulet from hand to hand. "Though I suppose you must still wait the needed amount of time, at least you won't need to actually sleep. Either way, a handy little magical item."
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Hanlin covers his face as Erlathan dowses the room with a thick blast of frigid air "That is impressive. You'll have to explain how you are able to change those spells to a range of different elements. Very handy."
He heads over to search through the items with the others, taking his turn to see if he recognizes any items and their values. He shakes his head in the negative. "I've not been exposed to hawkers and pawners much. Shall we continue?"
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Lord Braggett does a double take at the door to the north. "Ah, yes! The secret door that I obviously spotted the moment we entered the celler." He stuffs the book into one of Kibble's saddle bags and follows Nina towards the door. "Lets crack on then. Lady Brightspark, do you require any assistance with that?"
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Lord Braggett and Nina put ear to stone, but hear nothing on the other side of the secret door. Once Nina cracks the door, though, Lord Braggett hears the sound of voices (orcish maybe?) somewhere to through the door and to the east. The echoing tunnels makes it difficult to determine more.
In the dim light extending beyond the illumination of Hanlin's shining armor, the pair of gnomes peer into a chamber leading to a collapsed tunnel in the north. The chamber appears to extend to the east.
The ceilings in the secret tunnel are 20 feet high. The tunnel’s walls are rough, naturally formed stone. There are no sources of light anywhere in the caverns.
Rusted picks, shovels, and hammers lie scattered on the ground in this wide cavernous area.
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"~Secret tunnel....through the mountains...~" Nina hums softly to herself, peering into the natural stone tunnels and caverns that seem to lie ahead. "Um, Inky and I aren't going to be super quiet either but we'll try our best, okay?"
The pair wait until Lord Braggett and Bishop have a chance to move ahead and check things out before following behind - when and if the coast is clear.
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Lord Braggett keeps his flail hand and hops back into the saddle. "I hear voices ahead, be prepared my friends and close the door behind us." He trots off ahead of Hanlin, "I'd be more than happy to have a look with my extraordinary eyes, Sir."
He tries to be quiet, but having a flaming stone floating over his head makes the task of hiding very difficult. Plus, Kibble is too busy sniffing all the new scents to pay much attention to the command to stay quiet.
"Now, really Kibble! Pay attention."
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Send the lights ahead of us whatever it draws towards it perhaps we can see before they attempt to surprise us, Erlathan."
Bishop moves along letting the dancing lights illuminate the passage while he listens for anything that might be attracted to the sight of the dancing lights. He draws two daggers preparing to throw one and then use the other in close quarters.
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As the dancing lights appear and the party moves into the tunnel complex, the voices Lord Braggett heard to the east fall silent.
The broken tools on the ground were abandoned when the mine was closed. They have long since rusted and become useless.
Lord Braggett inspects the tools and spots an unusual item lying amid the detritus here—a tarnished mithral shovel. Though valuable, it’s damaged and has lost much of its luster, making it worth only
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"Ha! A shovel made of mithral..." Lord Braggett exclaims as he, in an impressive display of wolfmanship, dangles off the side of the saddle and plucks the spade from the floor without dismounting. "It's genius! This is truly a tool befitting a fellow of noble standing." Taking a liking to the (sort of) shiny object, he quickly stuffs it in his pack as soon as the others have had a chance to marvel at it. "Tools for nobles... What will they think of next?"
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As the excited cavalier picks up his prize, dust falls and the ceiling rumbles. A loud cascade of loose rocks falls from the weakened ceiling.
Vegazi wipes the dust off her bruised flesh, examining her wounds. "These tunnels don't seem to have been braced properly. We might want to avoid loud noises," she whispers.
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Lord Braggett looks up just as the dust starts to fall, "What the-"
The excitable cavalier and his noble steed are promptly battered by every single rock, somehow managing to dive towards the danger rather than away. By the time it's all over, both Braggett and Kibble are covered in a fine layer of dust. Looking more like a wight than a knight, Lord Braggett coughs and nods at Vegazi. "Indeed! Are you alright, Lady Vegazi?" He whispers, brushing himself down, "Shoddy workmanship! I must say, it's a good job I tested the tunnels integrity like I did... someone could have gotten seriously hurt."
Putting on a brave face, he then gingerly pulls a wand out of his belt and holds it out towards Hanlin. "I'm obviously fine, but if you wouldn't mind, Sir... I believe Sir Kibble could use a little bit of your positive energy right about now."
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Hanlin closes his eyes and covers his face as the dust rolls in "Holy smokes, you guys ok? Everyone sound off!" He does his best to whisper but seems pretty concerned, looking nervously up at the ceiling and down the tunnel as far as his light will reach.
Afterwards he takes a few ginger steps towards Vegazi to assess her condition.
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In hushed voices, the party assesses the damage, and Lord Bragget asks Hanlin to heal Sir Kibble and himself.
Hanlin examines Vegazi; the ranger has a gash on her forehead, but she can press on.
As the dust settles, the forward members of the party see a narrow tunnel leading northeast, and to the southeast the chamber branches out into two wider tunnels.
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Nina flinches as part of the ceiling suddenly comes down atop Lord Braggett, Sir Kibble, and Vegazi. As the dust clears, she's relieved to see that they're all still on their feet at least.
"Hey, you found a structural weakness! Good job," she whispers. "Most people usually just, um, look for them with their eyes instead of with their entire bodies but whatever works. But maybe we should be a little more careful from now on?"