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Menarul draws his hammer and moves in for close combat. Kronas stabs at the creature with his blade, and though he hits it, doesn't seem to really do any damage. Not to worry though, as Artus slashes at the zombie with his blade in retaliation, ending its existence.
Out of combat!
With the floating platform now free of aggressors, you and several dozen other Pathfinders cling to the rock as gravity pulls it down towards the fortress, which gets bigger and bigger as you descend. The floating vault is nearly a half-mile wide with defenses established in every direction. An adamantine shell encloses the structure; however this has been ruptured, and strands of the sky metal practically bleed from the holes in a vain attempt to repair the damage and reseal the area completely. The ground bulges all about, and chunks of earth and metal explode periodically as blasts of air billow out from within, driven by an unseen force.
The fortress is practically a life form in its own right—a vile construction of the elemental lords. Its contortions and regeneration make it difficult for the Pathfinders to alight on its surface, find an open passage, and make their way inside before another gust flings their island back toward the cavern’s edge.
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Lutorinus doles out healing in the moment of calm. "Asmodeus' blessing upon you all! Remember how the Dark Prince has come to your aid when you needed it!" Unlikely to sway these fools in such a short time, but it never hurts. If not me, then another who has been given the mantle shall succeed.
As they close in on the fortress, he does his best to locate an entrance, but to no avail. "Too much is changing all at once, I can hardly make out a path!"
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Zandu stares at the fortress for a long time, visually following one spot before having it close up on him a moment later. Impossible to follow all that... After a time, he shakes his head in frustration. "There is a pattern there, I think, but I can't quite get a handle on it."
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Zandu jumps off the platform and gracefully lands right where his companion had indicated, a clear opening as promised.
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Menarul takes out his notebook again and starts taking quick memos and sketches of the place as the piece floats down. "You know this would be an amazing place for a fireworks display, you could set the people up on the cavern edge and fire them off from down there. It'd be remarkable in that you'd be above or on level with many of them." When he finishes getting his ideas down on paper he turns to Lutorinus and asks if he could get the cleric to look at the bruising on his back.
When they get closer, he puts his notebook away again and starts to look at the fortress with an almost unnerving intensity. He doesn't find anything promising, but does feel he can easily get wherever his companions tell him to go, should they find a good place to get in.
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"Oooooh! I've never seen the top of a firework before... I wonder it's just as colourful as the bottom?" Kronas says before giggling and quietly repeating "bottom!" Seconds later, a glimpse of the fortress distracts him from his train of thought "Wow! Look..." Kronas points at a seemingly random point on the dome "It looks almost alive!" He scampers back and forth excitedly, occasionally leaning precariously over the edge for a better look "Oh, oh! Look... there... can you see it?" he points at another crack just before the island is blown back towards the cavern walls "I think I see an opening." When the island gets near the fortress once again, Kronas backs away from the edge to give himself a good run up "Follow MEEEeeeeeeeeeee...." he cries as he leaps off the side of the island with a huge smile on his face.
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As the rock descends towards the fortress like vault, Kronas skitters around the edge, staring for a way in. He finally spots a crack large enough to squeeze through, and jumps for it, not sure how long it will stay open. The others all follow, and somehow, miraculously, nobody is hit by any flying debris in the process.
Now inside the vault, you find your predicament isn't much better than it was outside. You now have no choice but to navigate the twisting passages found within the fortress itself. The way forward is claustrophobic and cramped, with the walls constantly shifting and bumping into you.
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Menarul follows Kronas from the debris into the fortress as well. When they land he comments, "Yes a fireworks should look the same or similar from above, but it..." He gets cut off when he notices from the corner of his eye that the walls are indeed moving. "Oh, interesting I wonder if there's a pattern? Let's see..." After spending a moment analyzing their movements, he pipes up, "I think I see a pattern, if we go this way, maybe..." before heading off down a corridor.
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Artus, Lutorinus, and Menarul take the lead, and try to find the way forward through the ever shifting passageways. The tiefling and the alchemist both end up taking a wrong turn somewhere however, and lead the party right towards a large crevasse. Though Menarul spots it just in time to avoid falling, Lutorinus isn't as lucky and takes a hard fall. It takes a bit of time to finally make it to the inner vault, and everyone is left a bit battered from the ordeal.
Finally, you reach your destination: A heavily worn set of stairs leads from claustrophobic tunnels into an eroded cavern studded with sand-scoured crystals that emit cool, faint light. The jagged foundations are all that's left of metal walls - the fragments of which now jut from the wall like throwing knives. An immense, intricate, thousand-sided polyhedron made of sky metals floats within a tight series of binding circles. As blasts of air erupt from the polyhedron, the surface's shattered facets regenerate before being blasted apart on another side.
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Before beginning to make any attempt to solve this puzzle, Robyyn stands in rapt attention, clearly in awe of this fantastic... well, whatever it is! All of that skymetal....
As his eyes travel over the polyhedron in the center, and the various rings (probably wards?) that fly around it, his mind instinctively looks for some kind of pattern.
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Robyyn's knowledge of the arcane arts helps him quickly identify the markings on the gemstone circles.
Warding circles (2): Each of these two circles toughens up the remaining three circles and transfer energy to them, keeping them sturdy should someone try to destroy them.
Earth circle: An empowering circle which seems to lend energy to any earth subtyped creature in this area.
Distortion circle: Causes the facets of the polyhedron to become blurred and difficult to analyze. Increases the difficulty of solving one of them substantially.
Fear: Approaching the puzzle orb while this circle is active instills the fear of being buried alive in you, causing you to become shaken, or worse - to suffocate.
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Kronas enters the room rubbing a bruised shoulder "Woooah! What is that?" He asks, suddenly very excited, all thoughts of nasty moving walls forgotten. He takes a couple of steps towards the polyhedron and raises a hand, transfixed by its otherworldliness "I want to touch it soo bad!"
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Menarul takes a moment when they step into the room to examine it. He then comments, "I wonder if that's the trapped elemental?" before staring at the marks on the floor. He can't make heads or tails of them until Robyyn points them out to the group. Marking the warding circle that Zandu isn't working on, Menarul takes another glass bottle out and gives it a violent shake. He then tosses it onto the circle and watches the fireworks as it expodes.
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"Sorry, got kinda lost in them. Yeah, It's pretty simple to work out what they all do, once you see the pattern." Robyyn absent-mindedly explains all 5 circles to everyone after Menarul asks about them.
Robyyn watches Lutorinius and Menarul both make different attempts to shut down the warding circles. He draws a vial of acid from his pouch, holding it close to his midsection as he tests the swirling winds once or twice, then tosses it towards the circles when he feels that the wind is right.
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Once Robyyn points out the different gemstone circles and what they do, the Pathfinders get to work. Zandu goes for one of the warding circles, and manages to completely disable it with ease. Lutorinus tries the same tactic on the other, but doesn't have the same results. So Menarul and Robyyn step up with a different tactic, one with a fire bomb, the other with a flask of acid. The gemstones weather the attacks, however, and look no worse for wear. Artus comes in with his set of thieving tools though, and manages to disable it with ease. While the others work on the circles, Kronas takes the direct approach and heads straight for the orb. He reaches out to tinker with the device, but is suddenly overcome with dread, and feels quite certain that they are all about to be buried alive. But before you can continue to work, two metallic humanoid sculptures seems to come come out of the walls towards you.
Round 1
Active Conditions: Flag bearer
Zandu
Lutorinus
Artus
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Red
Blue
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Kronas (shaken)
Robyyn
Menarul
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Lutorinus moves over to Menarul as he summons a solid Asmodean pentagram and passes it off to him. It orbits around the half- elf a few times before maintaining a position between it's subject and his enemies. "I've struck a deal, resulting in your increased protection. You're welcome," he explains. He better not break it, devils drive a hard bargain for such trinkets.
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Robyyn recognizes the creatures as celedons, and passes along what he knows about them. Celedons are contructs made in the idealized form of their deity, in this case, oreads. Zandu continues to work on the wards, and though he does make some progress, doesn't disable it completely. Lutorinus shields Artus with Asmodeus's strength, who hangs back for now. The two statues march dutifully towards the party, and the mouth on one of them creaks open before letting out a melody that sounds like a harpsichord. The other reaches Zandu, and tries to swing a small sword, but the rusty arm seems to need some oil.
Round 1/2
Active Conditions: Flag bearer
Zandu
Lutorinus
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Red
Blue
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Artus
Kronas (shaken)
Robyyn
Menarul
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Menaul smiles hapily as his bomb sucessfully lands, and gives an impressive, if slightly lacking in sarkle, display. It shortly becomes a frown as it doesn't seem to affect the circle whatsoever. He reaches back for his hammer,grumbling about having to do it hte hard way, when Lutorinus spurprises hime with a spell.
Menarul gives Lutorinus a hard look. "I guess I should say thank-you for the spell, but I didn't really need it, especially if you've put me in a contract with Asmodeus, as I don't know the terms. I appriciate the thought, but I would like to deal with the gods on my own terms."
Menarul then turns and realizes while he'd been talking with the cleric, the costructs had moved closer. "Dang i had been hoping they didn't want to fight. Oh, well, let's finish this quickly!" He quickly draws his hammer from the brace on his back and takes a large metal flask from the front of his bandolier. He pops the lid open and the contents start to give small pops and sparks of light shoot out the top. Menarul downs the contents of the flask in one gulp and gives a shudder. Immediately, his muscle mass expands out a magnitude. He leisurely takes a step forward as his exposed skin starts to harden into bark-like grooves and his brown hair starts to tangle up into large thick vines covered in small thorns. He gives a smile at the metal creatures, "I hope everyone can handle the circles and puzzle! Leave the fighting to me!"
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"B... But they've c... come to bury us alive, Menarul!" Kronas shouts in a mini panic attack "D... Don't let them get too c... close!" He quickly dips his hand into a pouch on his belt and removes it again with his fingers covered in grease. "They're g... g... going to collapse the roof on us!" Hastily, he traces arcane runes in the air with his now buttery fingers and a jet of grease shoots out from his hand straight towards one of the constructs. Only then does he notice Menarul's impressive transformation and some of Kronas' usual courage is restored. He draws his sword and steps closer to the fight.
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Move action to draw sword, 5' step, standard to cast grease at the blue construct, DC 14 reflex save or fall prone, duration 2 minutes (the 10' orange square on the map).
A grease spell covers a solid surface with a layer of slippery grease. Any creature in the area when the spell is cast must make a successful Reflex save or fall. A creature can walk within or through the area of grease at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check. Failure means it can't move that round (and must then make a Reflex save or fall), while failure by 5 or more means it falls (see the Acrobatics skill for details). Creatures that do not move on their turn do not need to make this check and are not considered flat-footed.[/grease]
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"Constructs, of course. My hexes won't do a thing." Robyyn grumbles.
He steps up between Menarul and Lutorinius, fanning his fingers and chanting a short incantation: "ಬರ್ನಿಂಗ್ ಹ್ಯಾಂಡ್ಸ್"
A short burst of flame leaps from between his fingers, bathing one of the celadons in fire.
A cone of searing flame shoots from your fingertips. Any creature in the area of the flames takes 1d4 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 5d4). Flammable materials burn if the flames touch them. A character can extinguish burning items as a full-round action.
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Artus swings his blade at the closest celedon, but almost loses his grip and drops it. Though Kronas is in a panic about the possibility of being buried, he manages to coat the ground in grease, causing the other construct to full with a metallic thud, just as Robyyn sears it with flames. Menarul takes the opportunity to draw his hammer and call on some alchemical strength. Zandu continues his work against one of the rings, and manages to disable it completely, and the constructs seem to lose a bit of their luster. Nonetheless, one of them swings a blade, striking Artus on the arm, while the other slowly stands up and continues to march toward an intruder.
Round 2/3
Active Conditions: Flag bearer
Zandu
Lutorinus
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Red
Blue (-4)
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Artus (-3)
Kronas (shaken)
Robyyn
Menarul
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Seeing another of the wards disabled restores even more confidence to the still visibly shaken Kronas, and he takes a moment to focus on the enemy for the first time "Look! It's footing is unsure in all that grease, Menarul. Wait for it to move and strike while it's off balance..." Sparing a glance at the ceiling Please don't collapse, please don't collapse, plea... he then rushes off towards the other Celedon "Great work Zandu! I've g... got your back!" he says as he waves a sword threateningly at the construct "St... stay back! You won't bury us today!"
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Menarul gives yet another sigh when everyone but Zandu ignores his words and focuses on the constructs. "Kronas, that's the magic talking. I doubt these tings can drop the ceiling on us. But thanks for the grease, that'll make this much easier!" A cocky smile on his face Menarul steps forward, and brings his hammer down on the construct in front of him. He frowns as his attack goes wide. "Wait, that shouldn't happen. Something must be wrong with my hammer."
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Completing his spell, an eagle with red eyes erupts into view in a shower of brimstone and sulfur. It caws in defiance and rips into the one slathered in grease!
Lutorinus makes his way to the edge of the grease, drawing a crossbow, and fires into the melee. Of course, the hammer made you miss. Must I do everything myself?
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Move Move to grease/draw crossbow
Standard Fire at enemy in grease
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"Fine, half-elf. You fight the things. But I can bring down the circles no better than I can fight. You're closest, so you'll get my help instead." He lightly touches Menarul's shoulder as he utters a single word in Auran. "ಮಾರ್ಗದರ್ಶನ"
This spell imbues the subject with a touch of divine guidance. The creature gets a +1 competence bonus on a single attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. It must choose to use the bonus before making the roll to which it applies.
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After the blow from the celedon, Artus isn't interested in fighting and just tries to protect himself. Despite worrying about the ceiling collapse, Kronas manages to raise everyone else's spirits. Robyyn passes along some arcane aid to Menarul as he swings his hammer, but it's not enough and the attack goes wide. Zandu continues his work on the wards, and seems to be getting a hang on it as he disable another. Lutorinus summons an eagle to help, who claws at the construct, before the tiefling finishes it off with a bolt from his crossbow. The remaining statue dutifully swings its blade at Artus, but he easily dodges the blow.
Round 3/4
Active Conditions: Flag bearer, Inspire
Zandu
Lutorinus
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Red
Blue
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Artus (-3)
Kronas (shaken)
Robyyn
Menarul
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With one celadon gone, Robyyn has more freedom to move. He moves closer to Zandu, still hoping to aid telekineticist in his efforts. But the other celadon still threatens any path through to Zandu, so Robyyn instead lightly touches Menarul's other shoulder, uttering the same word in Auran. "ಮಾರ್ಗದರ್ಶನ"
This spell imbues the subject with a touch of divine guidance. The creature gets a +1 competence bonus on a single attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. It must choose to use the bonus before making the roll to which it applies.
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Robyyn passes along some arcane aid to Menarul as he swings his hammer, but it's not enough and the attack goes wide.
Menarul scowls as the eagle and crossbow take care of the construct he'd been aiming for. With a grunt, he drops his bag. "There that should help" His face settles into a look of determination as he walks up behind everyone else and takes a position opposite the eagle. This time he was going to hit!
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free to drop bag and lighten encumbrance
Move to move 25 feet
Standard to attack
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Kronas is delighted to see one of the Celedrons clatter onto the ground, and when Zandu makes light work of yet another ward, he can't help but cheer "Ha ha! Pathfinders rule, weird metal things drool!" Kronas waves his flag in the Celedon's face as a distraction before taking a stab at it's knees with a sword that starts to glow mid strike.
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Standard to attack, Swift to activate Arcane Strike, Free to maintain inspire courage.