Another arrow flies through the air, finding it's target. Gleefully, Phoebee calls out her success.
Whendel continues to press the attack, launching a bolt of fire at the creature. *BaBOOM* rings out at the bolt explodes, singing the opponent.
Rushing forward, Syllyn easily shrugs off the fearful aura surrounding the lizardfolk as Abaal calls out a warning.
Before it can respond to Abaal, another pair of arrows pierce its skull...and it drops like a sack of potatoes.
The battlefield is awash in dropped or tossed-aside gear. Searching it fully, you find seven suits of studded leather armor, two suits of finely crafted studded leather, nine light wooded shields, 12 daggers, a light crossbow with 12 bolts, two masterwork rapiers, nine saps, seven short swords, three potions of blue fluid, 1 potion with sparkling blue fluid, , three iron Razmiri masks, two smokesticks, two sunrods, a setof thieve's tools, and 150g.
2 +1 studded leather armor
CLW Potions
Cure Moderate Wounds Potion
Finely crafted Bracers, two javelins, two masterwork morning stars, and a vial of dark, sludgy water.
Bracers of Armor +1
Waters of the Whispering River
Type poison, contact; Save Fortitude DC 16
Onset 1 round; Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds
Initial Effect 1 Con drain; Secondary Effect 1d3 Con damage; Cure 2 consecutive saves
Totals: three heavy wooden shields, three morningstars, 9 javelin
Slowly, cautiously, Dusan steps out from behind the bush. "Friends do...do do good! Friends is....friends is ready to see see masks, yes? Dus-Dusan takes friends friends to masks now?"
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Syllyn is piling the armor up and notices that a couple of them seem in much better shape than the others. after examining more closely he announces, "This studded leather armor is enchanted and high quality. Worth a pretty penny."
When he gets to the vial he takes a sniff then recoils. "Whew! Nasty stuff that'll kill you dead right quick! Be REAL careful handling this stuff - all it takes is a drop on your skin."
Syllyn c*a*r*e*f*u*l*l*y puts the stopper back on and puts it in a safe place.
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Flyn nods to the others. "Well done, my friends..."
He then looks to Abaal. "就像 你在我, 了 樣殺 我們就像 殺他們. 你 在我的 我的樣殺你
的域 們就像. 我們就像 在我你在 你在 殺 我們就 - 了 樣殺我們 就像 我的 樣殺你."
Searching the field, Flyn will take the smoke sticks, if no one objects...
Turning once again to the others, he says, "We only seem to be a day or two behind Iramine...we had best push on..."
When his friends are ready, the ranger will take the lead...he'll attempt to pick up and follow Iramine and her party's tracks while keeping alert for any signs of danger, bow in hand...
Once all seem to be ready, the crazed man heads out again, leading you farther along the tracks of the cultists. You travel a few more hours and just before nightfall come across another burned out campsite. Two graves mark more fallen opponents and upon inspection, Flyn confidently advises their numbers no longer exceed twelve members.
The entrance to Xin-Grafar stands ahead—two enormous stone doors, each thirty feet high and fifteen feet wide, covered in carved, vertical wavy lines. The left-hand door stands open, a complex internal mechanism of worked stone and metal clockwork gears visible along the door’s side about halfway up. The doors are recessed about ten feet into the side of a large, grass-covered hill and tilt slightly inward. A firepit smolders beside the right-hand door, tiny tendrils of smoke still curling skyward from its coals.
Glancing into the gate, you realize a passage has been cut into the rock leading down, down into the earth below. the path twists out of sight, but there are recent tracks in the dirt.
Dusan turns to you and, motioning towards the gate, mumbles "Down down down there masks. Dusan stay stay here. Friends be be careful."
The walls give off a soft light...some kind of fungus growth is prevalent throughout the winding tunnel as you walk deeper and deeper into the earth below.
The long, sloped tunnel leading down to the city suddenly opens into a large rectangular room. The floor here is sand and shows signs of recent foot traffic. The walls are all painted in enormous murals that depict a city in its prime. The south wall shows hundreds of men and women in a marketplace, trading everything from fruit and livestock to construction materials such as brick and wood. The north wall depicts row upon row of unarmed, uniformed men standing large in the foreground and growing smaller as their ranks disappear over the horizon toward the far right of the painting—a horizon over which an enormous golden sun rises. The east wall is a huge map that portrays a city constructed of three concentric circles and divided by canals of pure, crystal-clear water that flows from the city’s innermost ring. Below this map someone has scrawled numerous notes and mathematical calculations in charcoal. Finally, the west wall depicts a leader of some sort, crowned by a golden sun and speaking before a huge crowd of people wearing white shawls and golden togas.
The scrawled notes are in common, but seem to be gibberish...referring to something called "Jewel of Everlasting Gold" and fires, floods, and molten gold...
The notes reveal that 72 hours after the gates are opened, the city will flood with molten gold to a height of 40 feet through the entire first two rings of the city.
It also shows the city takes a full 24hrs to drain and once started, the flood cannot be stopped.
It appears none of the Razmiri cultists stopped to look at these murals. They instead walked through the middle of the room and exited this room to the north
Looking towards the north, a large doorway passes from the room of murals towards the city. A lightly glowing green fluorescence emanates from the cavern roof above, illuminating a once-great city now reduced to ash and rubble—but whose ruins are coated entirely in gold. A large, covered bridge across a canal glows white-hot and emits a searing, golden light. In the center of the bridge stands a man-shaped statue covered in fine gold plating, its carved face eerily human-like. From the looks of it, all the remains between you and the city-proper is crossing the bridge.
Looking back towards the room of murals, you see the stone walls have a line approximately 40 feet up where the gold plating stops....and everything as far as the eye can see is covered in gold.
Though the statue is golden, you notice the inside of the bridge is dusty, dirty, and gold free with the exception of two piles of melted gold.
You notice some kind of battle took place here recently
From the tracks, it would seem the Razmirian's fought something between the room and the bridge
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Flyn bows to Dusan. "We'll see you when we take care of the Masks...we'll be happy to take you with us when we leave. Thank you for your guidance..."
When his friends are ready, he heads into the entrance of Xin-Grafar...
Flyn follows the tracks of the Razmirans into the large rectangular room...
Glancing at the huge map to see the layout of the forbidden city, he says, "It appears Iramine and her gang went through to the north without stopping...perhaps they already have a map..."
Noticing the charcoal notes, he studies them...
Flyn grimaces. "These notes are disturbing...72 hours after the gates are opened, the city will flood up to 40' with molten gold...and then take 24 hours to drain...I wonder if Iramine is aware of this? Since she got here first, we'll have less than that...we had best find her, defeat her, and exit before then..."
Taking the exit to the north, Flyn continues to follow the tracks...
...and stops when he comes to the site of a fight.
"It would appear, Iramine fought something here," he says, eying the golden statue eerily...
"I'm wary of this statue of gold..."
Flyn draws his bow, eying the area for traps and hidden foes...
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Flyn nods to the others. "Well done, my friends..."
He then looks to Abaal. "就像 你在我, 了 樣殺 我們就像 殺他們. 你 在我的 我的樣殺你
的域 們就像. 我們就像 在我你在 你在 殺 我們就 - 了 樣殺我們 就像 我的 樣殺你."
Looking at those who fired the first shots, Abaal nods. "I believe you are correct," he says without a trace of irony.
Abaal makes a gesture indicating that Flyndyngylyn should proceed him.
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Flyn shakes his head and whispers to his friends. "I think that golden statue is guarding the bridge...and it appears to be the only entrance into the city...there's no dust on it and it's eyes follow our every movement...I'm guessing this is what Iramine and her cohorts were fighting but I have no idea how, or if, they got by it...
"Can any of you identify this creature? I've seen constructs before but they were nothing like this..."
Golden Guardian
Medium Construct - (Link) Construct Traits)
DR and Immunitites
DR 5/adamantine; Immune electricity, fire; SR 17
Special Attacks
Heat (Ex) A golden guardian’s body generates intense heat, dealing 1d6 points of fire damage whenever it hits in melee, or in each round it grapples. Creatures attacking a golden guardian with unarmed strikes or natural weapons are also subject to the golden guardian’s heat.
Molten Destruction (Ex) When reduced to 0 hit points, a golden guardian superheats and instantly melts into a pile of molten gold. All creatures within a 10-foot-radius spread take 6d6 points of fire damage; a DC 14 Reflex save halves the damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Conductivity: A magical attack that deals electricity damage speeds up a golden guardian (as the haste spell) for 1d4 rounds. A golden guardian gets no saving throw against electricity effects.
Heat Shimmer (Ex) The intense heat radiating from a golden guardian’s body creates a wavering shimmer in the air that makes the construct difficult to see clearly. This functions as a blur spell (CL 8th), except it cannot be dispelled.
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"Hmmm, It is a gold golem... very rare. They are incredibly fast and their touch turns you to gold. They are immune to all weapon attacks and magic. You can only hurt them by pissing on them. Good luck with that." He start to turn and leave. "Aren't you coming?
Whendel says all this with a straight face, them slowly when no one finds it humorous, he adds, "Just kidding, I have no clue what that thing is. It is spooky though." He pauses then turns to Phoebee.
"Alright, you showoff bard, tell us what it really is with the knowledge from some long lost epic poem." "Just don't sing it." "I don't know why I even try."
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Syllyn rubs his crest and he takes a closer look at the guardian.
"Seems like a typical construct. Got really hard skin that's hard for weapons to get through, resistance to electricity, and if I don't miss my guess, considering what it is a guardian of, fire too.
And, just in cast the magic throwers think they got it handled, it's also resistant to magic. Expect most of your spells to bounce right off of the thing. I'd stick to buffs."
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The bard will move up behind Flyn after he calms down from the inspired rage
Not all spells need to be used against it, she replies to the skald. I can make slippy shoes and it might fall down, go boom
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Flyn blushes as Phoebee gives him a pat on the behind, arching an eyebrow at her as he says, "Old enough? Aye, I'm 117 m'lady, so I'm thinking that'd be old enough...
"As for the other, let's make it through this gauntlet of a city and then we might have time for that..."
Looking to Abaal, Flyn nods. "I think I get your gist, my friend...excellent idea, but I'm not sure when the statue will activate. Since the signs of the fight with Iramine are close to where we stand, I fear if we move towards the bridge at all, it'll activate and attack..."
"If we move due south from our present position, maybe that will not alert it...then I'll fire and hopefully it'll be slow in moving, especially with Phoebee's grease spell, and we can catch it close to the southern edge of the bridge..."
Flyn looks to Phoebee, Syllyn, and Whendel. "As soon as I start to fire, if you have any spells you wish to cast, including your grease spell Phoebee, then make it so..."
When the party is ready, Flyn will nock an adamantine-blanched arrow at the golden statue, whispering, "Cast now," before letting it fly at the construct...
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The bard begins a song to create grease in front of the golden lady
My favorite shoes so good to me
I wear them everyday
Down at the heel, holes in the toe
Don't care what people say
My feet's best friend, pals to the end
With them I'm one hot chicky
Though late one night
Not much light
I stepped in something icky
Slippy shoes, slippyshoes
Always makes me smile
Slippy shoes, slippy shoes
Next time I'll avoid the pile
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Syllyn waits about 20' from the edge of the bridge to see what happens when the guardian is attacked, sword at the ready, tapping his martial song.
Raging Song (Su): When the skald begins a raging song and then on each ally's turn, if the ally can hear the raging song, that ally must decide whether to accept or refuse its effects. This is not an action. Unconscious allies automatically accept the song. If accepted, the raging song's effects on that ally last for that ally's turn or until the song ends, whichever comes first.
Inspired Rage (Su) Affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +2 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
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"Where were you supposed to charge in at? Charging always ends badly in my experience. I thought we were trying not to end as molten gold on the golem's pole arm. We were letting it come to us, slowly and with lots of arrows and a bolt or two sticking out of it."
Whendel struggles with his crossbow's reloading mechanism. "These things are great, just point and click. It's the reloading that takes time."
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"Where were you supposed to charge in at? Charging always ends badly in my experience. I thought we were trying not to end as molten gold on the golem's pole arm. We were letting it come to us, slowly and with lots of arrows and a bolt or two sticking out of it."
Whendel struggles with his crossbow's reloading mechanism. "These things are great, just point and click. It's the reloading that takes time."
There's a sort of gunshot sound and Whendel sees that the swordsman he was speaking to has turned into a rapidly dissipating, Abaal-shaped cloud.