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Myrd enters the room, and Gweld steps in too, remaining close to the door.
Myrd moves to the tortured man and uses his wand to begin healing him.
Suddenly a bomb hurtles through the air and lands between Ptehp and Zavubak. The bomb explodes, splashing Ptehp and Zavubak in acid.
A fetchling becomes visible in the corner of the room. She's wearing form-fitting masterwork studded leather, carries a masterwork dagger at her hip, and a cloak over her shoulders. A ring glints on her left index finger.
"I am Mazzel Gol, but you may call me The Shadow Lady of Death!"
Moving faster than a fetchling ought be able, she tosses another bomb, this time aiming directly at Ptehp.
Ptehp is covered in acid, and it continues to burn through his tough hide.
Mazzel Gol
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Zavubak
Gweld the White Owl
Ptehp
Myrd Sharpclaw
Honey & Tera
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I'd say: I cast it and entered, and then walked up to where the body was and cast Stabilize, so this would be 3/10 rounds, is that okay?
Ptehp evades most of the acid splash with incredible grace for such a lug in heavy armor!
Ptehp sees the woman, and blurts out: "You very purty!"
He does frown when she tosses a vial of acid in his face, and his skin starts to boil away.
He calls upon Selket with fervor, and a spell of healing is set off, closing some wounds, and then he whips Mazzel Gol--
--calling out to her: "You want join Pathfinders? Dark Archives like you", but he remains where he is, to leave room for his comrades who need to move in.
• swift action to use 1 fervor (4/5 used) and cast prepared CLW on self
• heals 1d8+4 from level +2 from Fey Foundling
• -16+14 = -2 (damage taken)
•
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Ptehp swiftly heals most of the initial acid bomb damage, but the residual acid still burns. He cracks his whip, lashing the fetchling alchemist across her non-throwing arm. Mazzel Gol screams a shadowtongue obscenity at the half-orc warpriest. "Does that pick-up line ever work for you?"
The deadly beauty attracts another half-orc assailant. Zavubak rakes a claw across her face, leaving ragged, bloody tracks on her cheek.
Gweld moves along the wall getting within reach of his elongated arms.
Tera works her way up to Mazzel Gol, and Honey follows Tera into the room, scythe gripped in her hands.
Mazzel Gol
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Zavubak
Gweld the White Owl
Ptehp
Myrd Sharpclaw
Honey & Tera
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Myrd sacrifices his own strength to summon a lantern archon. The orb of light sheds a warm and calming radiance as it moves with a preternatural silence and otherworldly grace to the southwest corner of the room. It fires two beams of light at Mazzel Gol.
The enraged alchemist lashes out at Zavubak with mutated teeth and claws. Mazzel Gol's lethal speed is astonishing. Her fangs and fingers drip with the half-orc's blood. She flashes a crazed, wicked smile, "Darling, you taste delicious!"
Mazzel Gol
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Zavubak
Gweld the White Owl
Ptehp
Myrd Sharpclaw
Honey & Tera
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A righteous aura surrounds the angry lantern archon, and it fires two more beams of light at the fetchling. This time, both find their mark.
Myrd launches three magic missiles from his splayed fingertips, and they, too, slam into Mazzel Gol.
Ptehp casts a spell, entering into a life pact with his companions.
Mazzel Gol
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Zavubak
Gweld the White Owl
Ptehp
Myrd Sharpclaw
Honey & Tera
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Honey knocks the mutagen-enhanced alchemist on her keester. Tera goes in for the kill, but even with her target prone and menaced by the lantern archon, she can't get her jaws on the fetchling.
Mazzel Gol is a cornered beast, fighting for her life. She knows if she tries to stand, she'll likely be slain by the mob surrounding her. Her extracts won't be enough to keep her alive, either. She vows, "I'm taking at least one of you with me! Mazzel Gol won't feed the worms alone!"
She thrashes about on the floor, biting and clawing at her attackers. She tries to even the odds, taking out the bloodrager first.
Mazzel Gol
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Zavubak
Gweld the White Owl
Ptehp
Myrd Sharpclaw
Honey & Tera
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The warpriest Ptehp stabilizes the unconscious Mazzel Gol.
Searching her body, you find emptied vials of potions and extracts littering the floor. In her belt pouch you find 238gp, two applications of alchemical grease and adamantine weapon blanch.
She has a masterwork dagger sheathed at her belt. With a cantrip and spellcraft, you identify her cloak of resistance +1, a ring of protection +1. Her rucksack nearby contains all the tools and implements of her alchemist’s lab.
The healers tend to the vivisected human, using magic and their healing skill to rouse him from his sickened coma.
With your support, he props himself up on one weak elbow. "My name is Zelius Jagrah, a slave from Cheliax, bought by the Blakros family. They handed me over to the Onyx Alliance, who sent me to the Shadow Plane three months ago, after undergoing a ritual that left me with this forehead rune. During my time as a slave of the Onyx Alliance, I've been primarily used for manual labor."
"But last night, Mazzel Gol selected me to be the subject of a series of tests, infusing me with something called 'liquid night.' I don’t know whether the actual augmentation has been carried out yet, but everything appears normal," he looks down at his scars, "other than the wounds sustained in the 'experiment.'"
"I will gladly leave with you, if you will escort me out of the building." He is too weak and traumatized to follow you anywhere else within Wightir House. "If I understand the situation correctly, if I exit this place while the Wightir Convergence is active, I will immediately return to the Material Plane, my ties to the Shadow Plane broken. I suppose the Blakros family would take me back. Once a slave, always a slave, isn't that the cruel truth of life?"
The party searches the offices and 'alchemedical' laboratory. Among the rows of artifacts and stacks of paper records of recent acquisitions, including the Tian exhibit, apparently gifted to the museum by a donor named Amara Li on behalf of the Lantern Lodge of Goka. The alchemical apparatuses and medical implements are largely old and poorly cared for, and little among Mazzel Gol’s other gear is worth anything on the Material Plane.
You also locate Mazzel Gol’s finely bound copy of Umbral Leaves buried under a pile of bloody rags, worth about 100 gold because of its intricately stitched leatherwork.
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Whatever your decision regarding what to do with the slave, Zelius Jagrah, and the fetchling alchemist, Mazzel Gol, you eventually return to the North Exhibit Hall and Ritual
Chamber.
Uthil Mak’s body still lies on the floor, the pool of dark blood congealing in slow-forming clots. His dead fingers still clutch the ceremonial dagger bearing the symbols of Zon Kuthon.
Once again you stand before the Wightir Convergence. The 10-foot tall black stone pyramid still exudes an eerie black essence from its apex, seeping into the air and dimming
the illumination of the room. A dozen bloodstones set into the rock face surround the relic’s apex, emanating a strong aura of conjuration and illusion.
You had already deduced that removing or destroying the bloodstones should end the effect and sufficiently sabotage the device to prevent future use. You could also use brute force to destroy them.
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"At least you are alive, we might be able to pull some strings to get you out of slavery. The Blakros' family owes us a favor for rescuing their daughters."
Myrd helps with getting the unconsious Mazzel Gol to the entrance and kicks her out of the museum. He then returns to the pyramid "How are you doing with those stones?"
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Gweld lets the rest sort out the issues with the freed slave and the defeated alchemist. He is much more interested in the whereabouts and the contents of Mazzel Gol's formulae book.
But when it comes to discussing the fate of the stones, Gweld just shrugs and plucks one of the stones out of its socket.
"Smash the rest, if you'd like." he says pocketing the stone.
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"Zelius Jagrah, you say you were handed over to the Onyx Alliance? Well, I claim you as my spoil from my victory over them. You belong to me now. Come with us to the Material Plane, and I will let you go free somewhere safe where slavery is not legal".
Ptehp throws Uthil Mak over his shoulder, and carts her off.
If no one wishes to remove the stones, Ptehp will whip them to dust.
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Zavubak chuckles at Ptehp's words. "For a moment, I thought you'd made him your slave, man. Sure, let's set him free. He's endured enough at the hands of this wretched alchemist."
Afterwards, Zavubak accompanies Ptehp to the Wightir, gladly offering his claws up as needed in destroying the tainted ziggaraut.
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Gweld searches for Mazzel Gol's formulae book, but it's nowhere to be found.
Myrd supervises the extraction of the unconscious fetchling alchemist from the laboratory.
In the ritual chamber, Gweld disconnects one of the bloodstones from the Wightir Conjunction. Ptehp, Honey and Zavubak destroy the rest, rendering the device permanently inoperable.
The transposition of the Material and Shadow Planes ends instantly, and reality snaps back to normal. You are now only in the Blakros Museum.
With the exception of Mazzel Gol and the loot you've retrieved, the Wightir Conjuction, the remaining fetchlings, including the body of Uthil Mak, and other untended items still in Wightir House return to the Shadow Plane.
As you head for the exit, you confirm that within the museum all elements from Shadow Absalom are gone.
Outside, the dawn is breaking. Eleanir and Michellia Blakros smother you with gratitude and affection. "Thank you for rescuing us. Our mother and the rest of our family will hear of your heroic bravery."
The sisters depart, attended by their servants. The slave Zelius Jagrah shrugs, bids you farewell, and sets off with a limp, following along, accepting his unfortunate lot in life.
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Apparently, Hamaria is indeed incredibly grateful for the rescue of the Blakros daughters. Through a message delivered by one of her household liveries, she conveys that she is granting you the rare privilege of keeping any 'loot' you may have uncovered while in the museum, and she implies that she will turn a blind eye to the fact that some of that loot may have actually belonged to the collection itself. She writes that the Blakros family feels secure in their freedom from the Penumbral Accords, and in thanks to the Pathfinder Society, the Blackros family offers even closer collaboration between their museum and the Society on future endeavors.
In the wee hours of the night for the next week or so, a tortured sound like the muffled screams of a fetchling can be heard emanating from the private quarters of Venture Captain Zarta Dralneen. Once or twice, some Pathfinders whisper, they heard a husky, feminine chuckle following the agonized howls.
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"You are welcome Eleanir and Michellia. I know this is not the right moment, but I might have a good opportunity for you. I hope you will allow me to meet with you once you have taken your rest"
A few days later Myrd will call on the girls "You have learned that everyone has other interests, sometimes they might coincide with your own and sometimes they do not. Learning what is what is very important, as is having access to information. I am an information broker and have access to a lot of information. I am happy to share that with you, and would want information in return. Not trade secrets, those are your own. But information who meets who and how often is valuable in itself. What do you say?"
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The proposition makes Michellia nervous, but Eleanir's eyes light up with excitement.
"Oh, pick me, pick me!"
She shoos Michellia out of the room and takes a seat closer to you on the divan in the drawing room. Her heady perfume is intoxicating as she leans in to conspire.
"I'll need a clever codename, and a deep cover story, and a new wardrobe for disguises. We should have some secret hand signals and written ciphers. And, of course, Mother must never, ever know. We'll have to meet at your place."
She claps her hands, trembling with enthusiasm.
"This is the start of beautiful relationship!"
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"Of course you need a codename and meeting on my ship, the Herron is a great idea. As for the coverstory, we should take that slowly. As you said, it needs to be deep and believable."
Oh my, I hope the information she can provide on her family is worth it, otherwise this will be a big effort for little return