"Assuming we have the time to go traipsing off in the markets!" Hazreem mutters darkly.
|
That night as you sleep, you all experience the same dream.
An imposing Efreet leads an army of gnoll, efreet, jann, and other horrific beasts upon Kelmerane. The battle is swift as the pactmasters and local guards can hardly muster any type of defense against such numbers and raw power. The oasis mercantile city you worked so hard to rebuild has fallen once again. Many buildings lie in rubble and ash, dead bodies lay scattered about, waiting for the wild dogs or worse to carry them away. An enormous black tower suddenly springs up through the roof of the battle market, nearly destroying the structure around it.
As the days fade, Kelmerane's citizens are rounded up and either carried into the black tower or marched off towards the Brazen Peaks. The Efreet, you can only assume is Jhavhul, moves on to the mountains, leaving a Jann in charge of the tower. Your dream ends with Almah being led in chains into the black tower...
Hazreem wakes up drenched in a cold sweat. My home! Nooo! He staggers to his feet feeling old and drained. Turning to his friends he sees the same dream reflected on their faces.
"Look I know we have failed to prevent the fall of our homeland to Jhavhul, but we have to stop him from his ultimate plan!" He says in a resolute voice.
|
Bahir trembles with barely contained fury, "Of course! If what we have just seen in our dreams has come to actually pass, than we must seek to free those still alive in Kelmerane at once." His righteous fury dissipates as the magnitude of his failures suddenly weigh upon him and his shoulders slump, "I have failed and am not worthy of the title Abbott-Protector of Kelmerane. In our ignorance we are responsible for freeing Jhavhul from his prison and bringing this doom upon those people."
Mah'ysa wakes up weeping, holding and being held by Bahir.
"No." She said, dashing the tears from her eyes.
"No. This... dream may mean that Kelmarane has been sacked and destroyed; or, that it is in danger from a future event that we may yet prevent; or, that is is a damnable lie sent by an enemy to demoralize us.
"For us, it makes no difference. We can do nothing for Kelmarane as long as we are trapped here."
She touched Bahir's chest.
"Bahir, you must not blame yourself. It is NOT we who are responsible, but the people who's vile and callous ambition endangers all of Golarion.
"For now, we can do no more than follow the plans we have already made."
|
|
The paladin sighs and then galvanizes himself, Ah...my Radiant One you have always been...and will always be my strength. "Yes, you are right, I should not allow the enemy to do more damage than he has already done by surrendering to despair now." He begins to strap and buckle his armor back on, "Let's find this Impossible Eye and get out of this place." He looks up at the marid princess, "Would the wishes power be enough to rebuild Kelmerane once we have cleared it of the enemy?"
|
|
"I am afraid that rebuilding a city is a task better suited to the blood, sweat, and tears of caring men and women rather than a simple wish. I suppose that many repeat castings could do it, however a single wish would likely only take care of a certain building," Shazz responds with great compassion in her voice.
"Well, if we are going to help Kelmarane then we have to find the Impossible Eye first." Hazreem replies. "What do you think of exploring the Ancestral Tombs? We would have to deal with the Sun God lizard-folk who have claimed the Shrine area of the Palace."
|
|
Date: Arodus 26th
Hit Points (Remaining/Max):
----------
PCs:
Mah'ysa 102/102
Bahir 152/152
Hazreem 142/142
Paellat 115/115(squirrel)
Efreat 111/111
NPCs:
Spooky 15/15
ACs
Mah'ysa- Curr: 23/T17/F18;
Bahir- Curr: 35/T18/F34 (smite);
Hazreem- Curr: AC 21/17/17;
Paellat- Curr: 21/T17/F17 (no ring);
Efreat- Curr: 22/19/19 (MA);
Spooky- Curr: 15/15/12 ()
NPCs:
Iavesk - Curr: 23/18/18(MA);
Conditions in effect:
----------
- Efreat:
Mage Armor - 13/13 hours remain - not cast
Overland Flight - 13/13 hours remain - not cast
See Invisibility 130/130 min remain - not cast
- Mah’ysa:
Endure Elements - 24/24 hours remain - not cast
- Bahir:
Endure Elements - 24/24 hours remain - not cast
Resist Energy (Fire) - not cast
Prot. from Energy (Fire) - not cast
Stoneskin (DR 10/adamantine) - not cast
- Hazreem:
- Wildshaped;
- Paellat:
- (baleful polymorphed - diminuitive squirrel)
Heat/Fire Resistance:
----------
Mah'ysa: Endure Elements (Spell/24hrs - 140deg)
Bahir: Resistance 10 (Ring of minor fire resistance 10, Resist Fire, Endure Elements), Protection from Fire (105 pts left.)
Hazreem: Endure Elements (Desert Endurance - 140deg)
Paellat: Resistance 10 (Ring of minor fire resistance)
Efreat: Resistance 20 (Elemental Bloodline)
Spooky: Endure Elements (Spell/24hrs - 140deg)
Ability & Item Uses (current day)
----------
Pae: Bag of Tricks[Max 10/wk;2/day]: 0 uses today; 7 uses this week (6th day)
Spells Cast
Efreat (cast):
Mah'ysa (cast):
Bahir (cast):
Hazreem (cast):
Iavesk (cast):
Environment Effects:
- Bayt Al'Bazan: Fire spells - Maximized, Enlarged; Water Spells - require Spellcraft DC=(20+Spell Level) to cast.
- Very hot temperature (needs endure elements or more to not be fatigued); structure made from living brass (molten form causes negative levels when touched); made for giants - high ceilings and furniture, large furniture, etc.; Bright illumination in most rooms;
---
Hazreem looks over to Pae who is still chittering angrily in his rodent form. "OK let me see if I can break this blasted spell!"
"That seriously sucked! I cannot believe you left me as a squirrel all night long. Let's get the heck out of this place. I am so done with genies, and magic, and treasure, and wishes, and the end of the world."
|
|
Iavesk is honored that you would ask him to accompany you, but honorably declines. "I will not leave Princess Shazzathared with a mere company of kobolds as protection. If there is overwhelming trouble, I will find you. You are all far better equipped to deal with the denizens of this place than I. That Sepid would have laid me low in mere seconds, without a doubt."
"Nonsense Pae! You were perfectly safe with Spooky on guard here. Wasn't he Spooky?" She said fondly, petting the cat.
The lucky cat looked very disappointed when Pae reverted to normal size.
Pae could only remember the luminous eyes staring at him all night. To him it looked like the cat failed to jump him only because of Shazatherad's playful splashing zone.
Hazreem hides a grin on hearing Mah'ysa's joke. He knows every little bit of humor is appreciated during their grim situation. "I hate to trouble you further, but if you could check this chest we found further we can get started on our mission."
"Wait! If this book is free from magical influence then we should peruse it for any further clues." Hazreem responds excitedly.
|
|
The bronze scroll is neither magical nor has evil auras. The leather tome radiates strong evocation, necromancy, and abjuration. It has the faintest of evil aura, the type of lingering aura that may exist by way of transfer from contact with someone with a powerful aura, and not really emanating from the book itself .
After finishing detecting magical auras on the items, Hazreem turns to the others. "I think we need to risk it as we have no way to identify the tome. If this tome tells the procedure to raise Xotani, then there might be a way to undo that in the pages."
|
|
While contemplating on what to do with the leather tome, the group takes a look at the bronze scroll more closely, as there is little discussion on whether it should be looked at or not.
As you unfurl the thin bronze sheet, it becomes clear that you are holding what appears to be the legal deed to Bayt Al-bazan.
Efreat's eyes widen at the sight of the deed. "Perhaps, this is a treasure truly worth our efforts." After some contemplation, "I would withdraw my claim to the wish for the deed."
Hazreem looks at Efreat with a surprised look on his face. "You want to make a...claim on this forsaken place?" He shakes his head in amazement. "I can think of at least three other factions who would happily slay us for that deed!"
Mah'ysa looked at Efreat with amazement.
"But... what would you DO with it?"
"It would be something for the long term, assuming we survive and destroy Jhuval."
|
|
After the group discusses the matter of the deed for a minute, Shazz chimes in, "As exciting as finding a deed to this palace may be, I have to caution you to find out the legality of any of you claiming it. First, as you know, there is at least one Al-bazan heir still alive. More importantly though, here in the Noble district you, as an "inferior being" (as they would say), wouldn't even be permitted to be walking about the streets unless you were property of an efreet, or escorted otherwise.
I cannot imagine that you would be permitted to own a hovel, let alone a major palace in this area. Of course, there are ways around such matters: favors, bribes, extortion, becoming an efreet, or creature of similar stature all come to mind. It is not impossible, but merely possessing the deed won't inherently grant you any rightful claim. They can just conjure up a new deed if they wish. I would assume this place should likely be auctioned once Jhavhul dies, unless there is another rightful owner, however it may be, already in place."
"It is all a risk but one that I would like to pursue once Jhavhul dies."
|
|
Efreat carefully handles the leather bound tome and opens it to the first page. It appears to some sort of recipe book: "mix 2 pinches of rosemary with a dash of pepper; rub into raw lamb rack thoroughly before roasting..."
Suddenly a large amber snake materializes from the pages and strikes out at Efreat. Efreat does his best to avoid the snake's surprise bite ...
Efreat dodges to the side as the snake disappears into smoke.
Proceeding to read the book more fully, Efreat ponders the mysteries within.
|
|
You recognize the spell effect as a Sepia Snake Sigil. When text enspelled with this sigil is read a large snake will strike out at the reader. On a successful bite, the reader will become paralyzed in a stasis for a number of days based on the caster's power.
This spell is one often used with - a spell used to hie the true contents of a page.
----
Narrowly avoiding the attack from the serpent, Efreat, thirst for knowledge piqued, throws caution to the wind and keeps reading.
Many of the following pages are some kind of transmogrification of arcane spells and a prayer book. Many of the prayers are to Rovagug and are focused on total annihilation of life, unmaking of the universe, corruption of goodness from within. Prayers to other deities of war, destruction, pestilence, and corruption are also found within. Efreat makes out a number of arcane spells and prayers for divine power until comes across a curious set of runes marked in the margin of a vampiric touch spell.
Everyone must make a Will Save, DC 24, as potent magic infests your minds.
You are confused and overwhelmed with the desire to attack the nearest creature to the best of your ability.
---
Save!
Mah'ysa swung her staff up, ready to clobber Bahir with a murderous impulse; but she controlled her emotions, let her breath out and relaxed.
|
|
Symbol of Strife. A extraordinarily powerful compulsion, anyone triggering this rune will cause strife to all nearby. All those affected will be overcome with desire to attack the nearest creature. The compulsion effect lasts round per caster level. The rune remains active for 10 minutes while triggered and creatures entering the effect will have to make a save as well. The compulsion effect would normally last rounds per caster level.
"Sepia snake symbol...nice. Someone must really value the contents of this book!" As the second wave of compulsion washes over him, he manages to shrug off the effects.
Seeing the others starting to succumb to the effects of the Symbol, he grits his teeth and prepares for the worst. We may need that Wish spell pretty quick...