Devora hoarse and looking to sit down and write some more out to her epic poem, shake her head at Stone in affirmation. But Stone and no one else can see that Devora is in agreement because she is still invisible. Oh well.....
"That may be wise."
agreed
The party passes the fog without incident. They then climb out of the lair of the now defeated Kreeg Clan. The last vestiges of sunlight has fallen over the western skies, but the party is blessed with a clear sky and a near full moon. They press on through the opalescent snow. Every step crunches as Brandark and Flynn lead the party back to Fort Rannick. The process was slow, but the way was quiet and nearly peaceful, a pleasant and unexpected change from the day's carnage.
Many hours later, the party reaches Fort Rannick. A Gnome is guarding the front gates. He recognizes the party, calls out, and the party enters the fort.
Not long after, Shalelu, Jakardros, and Garrath, all come to greet our brave adventurers. Stories are told, hot mead is served, for some it is wine, for others ale, but whatever beverage is consumed the party does not linger long before sleep becomes the primary goal.
Day Eighty-Four
Level Nine
After a few hours of shut-eye, Devora is wandering about Fort Rannick singing this time the praises of the Heroes. She has her book and quill with her. She stops occasionally to add to her epic poem humming as she writes another stanza.
Devora has had her adventures, but they were mostly in Magnimar. Fighting the Kreegs and Stone Giants were far more of a challenge than anything else she had experienced. She feels alive, mainly because she still is.
She ponders about the redhead and begins to inquire more and more about this mysterious Lucretia. She gets finer details about Lucretia and her now dead sister Xanesha. She is perplexed at the motivation of these Lamia Matriarchs. What would such ancient and foul creatures be doing? What is their purpose? And why Sandpoint? That is just a fishing village she thinks to herself. And who is this "M"?
End of The Hook Mountain Massacre
Was wondering if any of those scum sucking Kriegs were in the tunnel that we did not look in. After that, I say we get to the Fae in the woods to drop the corpse off, then to Sandpoint as fast as possible.
After all, we promised the Fae that we would bring her proof of what happened.
Devora listens to Brandark and Stone, the inner hearth at Fort Rannick is warm, and the thoughts of venturing out in the cold this quickly was not what she wanted to hear. But, Devora knows that there are task to be done. "The body of Lamater Bayden is ripe. Stone is there something you could do?"
She thinks of getting at least one more night's sleep, "Let us leave at first light." The Bard begins to hum her new melody. She begins to add words from her poem to the song.
Devora drinks the hot spicy mead and then turns in for the night.
Day Eighty-Five
Electra will write another scroll. This time one of teleport.
so i know we arent the biggest fans of it. But i could cast Speak with dead. confirm identity, get information..
"Interesting. I would like to see how that works," Devora looks at Flynn.
In the morning then.
With the rising sun, Brandark is up, and preparing his gear for travel.
Sorry Abacus, but we cannot take you with us up the hill.
He then grooms Abacus along with the pack horse, and then comes in for breakfast, and then waits for the others to come down for food.
Well, we are going to need either the corpse, or a piece of it to bring to Myrianna.
After that, we will need to head to the marsh to meet her.
Devora will speak up again, "I don't like the idea of carrying around the body of Lamatar Bayden. Let us go first to this fay creature, then up to the Hook, then to that fishing village. What do you say?"
School necromancy [language-dependent]; Level cleric/oracle 3, inquisitor 3, medium 2, psychic 3, shaman 3, spiritualist 3, witch 3; Domain knowledge 3, repose 3
CASTING
Casting Time 10 minutes
Components V, S, DF
EFFECT
Range 10 ft.
Target one dead creature
Duration 1 min./level
Saving Throw Will negates; see text; Spell Resistance no
DESCRIPTION
You grant the semblance of life to a corpse, allowing it to answer questions. You may ask one question per two caster levels. The corpse’s knowledge is limited to what it knew during life, including the languages it spoke. Answers are brief, cryptic, or repetitive, especially if the creature would have opposed you in life.
If the dead creature’s alignment was different from yours, the corpse gets a Will save to resist the spell as if it were alive. If successful, the corpse can refuse to answer your questions or attempt to deceive you, using Bluff. The soul can only speak about what it knew in life. It cannot answer any questions that pertain to events that occurred after its death.
If the corpse has been subject to speak with dead within the past week, the new spell fails. You can cast this spell on a corpse that has been deceased for any amount of time, but the body must be mostly intact to be able to respond. A damaged corpse may be able to give partial answers or partially correct answers, but it must at least have a mouth in order to speak at all. This spell does not affect a corpse that has been turned into an undead creature.
Wow..Honestly i expected more objections. Alright then, lay the body out i'll do the casting. We get four questions and thats it, think of them while i work Once the body is laid out Flynn pulls out from under his jacket an angelic ankh, symbol of Sarenrae, well hidden and chants in Elven. Damn... never mind forgot it doesnt work on undead... my bad, if theres another anyone wants to try we can but i screwed up, new spell you see.
"No problem Flynn. Too bad we don't have that dead Stone Giant. I do look forward to seeing how that works the next time," Devora smiles and finishes packing her stuff to get going again.
Well, if we have the body, then how about we go drop it off. Then to Sandpoint. I think that we need to get there as soon as we can.
The party, I assume with their horses, heads out at first light toward Turtleback Ferry.
The way is clear. The perpetual overcast of clouds begins to break up. Sunshine starts peaking through, a sight not seen in many weeks.
The stone bridge over the skull river was damaged in sections from when the Black Magga crossed over it. Several Black Magga scales were still scattered on the bridge's crest. But the overall structure of the bridge was intact and the party was able to cross, though carefully and one at a time.
Before noon the party reaches the now drying out Turtleback Ferry. Word moves quickly through the town that the Heroes of Sandpoint have returned. A crowd quickly surrounds the party as they pass along the still muddy streets. A not quite young woman runs to the party with a basket of bread. Tallia Henkenson in tears thanks again the party for her rescue.
Mayor Shreed comes out to greet the party and offers a place to rest for the night.
I think we can rest here for the night, but we must pass on as soon as we can for the marsh.
Brandark will dismount and lead both Abacus and Suzie, deeper into town.
Please keep back, he will Bite, and Stomp.
Warning people to keep kids and folk back from Abacus.
"Agreed. I do not mind a decent bed and some real food for a change. I will also enjoy the time to write another scroll or two or work on another project!"
A celebration is held at the Bottoms Up tavern. A halfling woman name Berthandy Kesker prepared and served a savory venison stew with a thick crusty piece of bread for dipping. Her husband Kad opens a keg of a fine dark draft of his own making. And for lady Elektra he pulls one of his Elven Wines from the cellar. The celebration goes into the night. There is no charge for the brave adventurers. Everyone else though must pay, and the Kesker's reaped a good profit for the day. This was the first time in a while the town had a reason to celebrate.
The party stays the night at the nearby Turtle's Parlor. The beds are cozy and warm. The people of Turtleback Ferry has worked hard and recovered quickly from the deluge.
Day Eighty-Six
The party leaves at first light. There is only one Turtleback Barge remaining as the other was sunk by the Black Magga. However, there is a flat-bottom boat large enough for the party. This turns out to be a bit of good fortune, as this larger boat does more than ferry travelers across the Skull River, it travels back and forth along the western edge of Claybottom Lake. The Black Magga still roams Claybottom Lake, but due to its size stays out of the shallows. And this boat stays in the shallows. The boat captain, Ren Achir, can take you to the edge of the Shimmerglens and not far from your destination at Whitewillow. He does charge 2 gold pieces for horse and rider. This is a deal, as this will save the party a day's travel. They will not have to travel to Bitter Hollow to cross the Willow River.
It is a little after noon when the boat captain finds a suitable place to drop the party off. However, the party finds themselves only a couple of miles from gnarled tree where the ghostly image of Myriana haunts.
It is an arduous couple of miles to pick through the marshy Shimmerglens and the tangle of vines that this now Whitewillow. It is dusk before the party reaches the gnarly tree.
If asked Electra will reply that she can only take 2 people with herself.
Flynn avoids the crowd and celebrations. He readies and meets the team. He had disappeared to do something overnight
When the party reaches the gnarled tree at Whitewillow they place the body of Lamatar Bayden before the tree. The wind picks up, storm clouds darken the skies, and the visage of Myrianna comes into view. Her appearance is horrifying, yet it is not difficult to see her once great beauty. She hovers over the body of her once lover. She cries out in pain and anguish at what has happened. How their love had been torn apart by the great evil that invaded her, her lover, and indeed the entire region.
But the brave adventurers have now defeated this evil that had been spawned in the region. A time of peace is about to begin that will be unequaled in the area's entire history.
Now Myrianna is no ordinary Nymph. She was far more powerful than most of her kind. And even in death, her power is great. She thanks the party for returning the body of Lamatar Bayden. She moves through and around the party.
She then lands on Devora Heidmarch. Her ghostly form surrounds Devora. Awed by what is happening, the Pathfinder just stands in wonderment. Myrianna gives a small piece of herself to Devora.
Myrianna then pours out all the rest of her existence into the body of Lamatar Bayden. And as Myrianna's soul begins to fade, Lamatar's soul, though he had been undead, begins to return to the body.
Lamatar's body shimmers then slowly fades away, but as quickly the shimmering returns. No longer is this Black Arrow Human, but becomes a Gnome, the dominant humanoid in this area. Consciousness returns to the once commander of Fort Rannick. His foul smelling clothes now way too big for his Gnome body.
Briefly, as this new form of Lamatar Bayden became conscious, he could see the shimmering form of Myrianna. Her ghostly lips touch the Gnome then her image fades. The Gnome reaches for the image, but it is gone. Lamatar Bayden starts to weep, but then quickly recovers. His stoic military discipline takes over. The Gnome stands and sees the party, "Who are you," he says. "What has happened?"
Severo is momentarily shorter than usual on words upon seeing Lamatars transformation. Deciding to take the opportunity, he approaches.
"It does not matter who we are. We were tasked by the fey to retrieve you from the giants of Hook mountain. We did so. However fey creatures of all kinds are a..." Severo hesitates for a moment before continuing "...capricious group. It would appear this one choose for her last act to create a second life for you. Use it well."
After a pause looking off to an interesting tree and adding.
"You will need clothes."
The transformed Lamatar Bayden looks around seeing things both familiar and not. Whitewillow was once a lush and beautiful place. But the evil wrought in the land transformed it. "I owe everything to Myrianna. She lived here and protected Whitewillow. I will now do the same in her honor and memory. Thank you for bringing me back to Whitewillow."
I would not begrudge the time needed to rest, but from the missive, it is a rush we are in.
But however, it was not a problem to bring you here, so please, use her gift wisely.
Brandark sets up a camp, with the practiced ease of a weary traveler. He then goes over to take the time to check the horses for problems.
As an aside, the now Gnome Lamatar Bayden will use his time to restore Whitewillow. He will replace Myrianna as its protector. Because of his new form he will befriend the Gnomes of the Sanos Forest and become their Northern protector. He will build a cottage near the gnarly tree. Over time he will find love again, marrying a Gnome bride. They will have children and in time become known as the Marsh Gnomes.
But back to the present, the party's rest was both peaceful and disturbing. When you slept it was deep and restful. Those that kept watch though were uneasy at best. Many things were moving through the wooded areas of Whitewillow at night, but always at a distance. When you kept watch you stayed armed and at the ready.
Day Eighty-Seven
A bright sun starts the day. But it is not long after that the party dives into the depths of the Sanos Forest. The sun often does not reach the ground of the Sanos due to the great canopy of massive trees, oaks and elms.
The Gnome have done a good job of keeping the Sanos Trail free of predators. After noon you will come upon a Gnome party that defends the approaches to their village. There will be some that will recognize the party from your previous trek through the Sanos. This time the Gnomes escort the party several more miles to the Gnome Village of Big Oak. It is about a mile off the main Sanos Trail. At its center is a massive oak tree. The tree must be hundreds upon hundreds of years old. It could very well be the oldest oak in all of Golarion.
Around the massive oak are various cottages and shops, clearings here and there dot the areas around Big Oak where crops are grown. All manner of contraptions, most with smoke billowing from them can be seen. Some move about on wheels. Others just twirl about without any real purpose. A cottage near the center contains a bakery. A Gnome covered in flour pours wheat grains into some whirling machine while another grabs a finished loaf of bread out the other end. Scenes like this are all over this Gnome Village. With the possible exception of the well-traveled Flynn, the party has not seen anything like this.
The Gnome escorts lead the party to a cottage that has been setup specifically for guest. It is here that you can spend the night in safety and peace.
Brandark checks with the gnomes to see if they would be willing to buy some of the items the party can and will part with.
The Gnomes may be interested, An elderly Gnome tinker speaks up, "Let's see what you have."
Brandark unlimbers all the gear that they have picked up over the last few weeks and have had them in storage.