Gabalast found the next object—a strange, illustrated card of a rabbit with a broken sword, about the size of his palm. Then Neila gave a triumphant cry and held up a feather that had been half-obscured by the dirt, a brilliant pink pinion.
Together you all circled in wider and wider arcs, searching for nearly half an hour before deciding you had found all that was to be found aside from the red-brown dust of this part of the Boneyard. In all, there were half a dozen objects: the cards, the feather, a scrap of unlabelled map, a tiny and rootless pine sapling that struggled to grow in the dead soil, and the broken headstock of what looked to be a mandolin.
"These objects are random" says Gabalast "A scar left by a protean right here in the court of Axis. It must have taken the soul, there is no other reason it would risk it's existence by coming here. Using these items I can track it, even in the maelstrom."
"We must travel again but this time I will transport you as we must be precise. It will be painful but you must bear it."
Twisting and branching lines of electricity shoot out of Gabalast outstretched hands and wrap around you and then there was a soundless explosion that seemed to come at once from inside your head and outside of it. There was no noise- not in the physical sense but rather the weight of the sound pressing in on your skin and reverberating on your bones. For a moment you think you might have gone deaf the silence making you think of a soldier that got to close to an alchemist's grenade but then you notice you can hear as Gabalast shakes each of you a bit checking to see you are ok.
"Oh...That was even worst than the spire" says Naila falling to her knees
Looking around you seem to be standing in a dense jungle and up ahead is a stone tower. It was perfectly cylindrical, and thick enough that despite its height it seemed to squat rather than soar. Time had taken its toll, and overshadowing the few narrow windows were yawning gaps in the stone where mortar had crumbled, sending man-sized blocks tumbling down. By far the worst damage had been to the crenelated crown, where fully half of the upper works had broken off in a jagged line, leaving the tower’s top ragged and lopsided.
"So this is the Maelstrom? Somehow this isn't what I expected of a realm of pure chaos."
Lyaro shakes his head a few times trying to rid his ears of the infernal ringing.. "Yes yes I'm fine even though my head must be split open"
Lyaro tries to stand but falls back down again
"There must be more to it than simply jungle, as even the jungle has an element of order to it... each hunter in turn is hunted by something else, until you get to the pinnacle of the chain."
Erik closes his eyes to gather himself as they arrive.
"We had best not tarry here." he says, getting ready to move on.
"This is the Maelstrom it is ever shifting and changing. This is a jungle now but in an hour it could be an ocean or a desert. Our prey is in the tower yes." says Gabalast as he begin to march towards it.
You are no more than halfway up—a few minutes of walking—when the first of the tremors hit. It began low, a buzzing that was barely perceptible, then suddenly spiked in intensity, becoming a rapid vibration that shook the earth beneath their feet and sent all of you reeling. Windmilling her arms like a tightrope walker about to be out of a job, Neila miraculously managed to keep her feet.
The shaking went on for almost a full minute, then subsided as quickly as it came. From the forest rose a raucous cry as a host of winged creatures, red and green and topaz, burst from the canopy and flew away their noises quickly fading. After a moment waiting to see if the shaking was truly finished, Neila spoke.
"What was that? Earthquake?"
"Not quite" Gabalast said. "Look" He pointed out a window to the horizon were you can see the jungle ends and there is an ocean.
Far off in that direction, the sky had changed from pastel blue to a bright pink, like newborn flesh scrubbed raw. Yet that wasn't the disconcerting part. The real issue was the enormous chunk of cliff face, wide enough to contain both golden fields and trees from the jungle, which had broken loose in the shaking. Instead of falling into the sea, it was now rising, several hundred feet of solid rock sheared from its moorings and floating ponderously into the air slowly spinning in place.
"Oh" Neila said.
"We must not waste time here." says Gabalast pressing on
At the very top of the tower you find the protean.
it floats in place with a serpentine creature has the lower body of a snake, a humanoid torso, and a bird-like head and claws.
*whispers*"It looks like a summoning gone very very wrong."
Lyaro feeling a bit lost will concentrate on his knowledge and try to go over what he knows of this place and of proteans
G
"Will Gabalast fight with us if this things attacks us? Or are you an observer?
Those great bird eyes snapped open their blazing amber fixing all of the newcomers in a searchlight glare.
Your bodies become wracked in pain as organs move and shift in your bodies and you feel everything spinning as you hit by a burst of pure chaos energy (dc 20 fort save. if you fail make a d20 roll. assume any effect that last 1d4 rounds lasts 1 round)
Table: Warpwave Effects
d20 Warpwave effect
1 Target takes 2 Strength damage.
2 Target takes 2 Dexterity damage.
3 Target takes 2 Constitution damage.
4 Target takes 2 Intelligence damage.
5 Target takes 2 Wisdom damage.
6 Target takes 2 Charisma damage.
7 Target gains 1 negative level.
8 Target is blinded or deafened for 1d4 rounds.
9 Target is confused for 1d4 rounds.
10 Target is entangled by filaments of energy for 1d4 rounds.
11 Target becomes fatigued (or exhausted if already fatigued).
12 Target becomes nauseated for 1d4 rounds.
13 Target is stunned for 1d4 rounds.
14 Target is sickened for 1d4 rounds.
15 Target is staggered for 1d4 rounds.
16 Target gains 4d6 temporary hit points.
17 Target is affected by a heal spell (CL = protean’s CR).
18 Target is turned to stone.
19 Target is affected by baleful polymorph (CL = protean’s CR).
20 Portions of target’s body burst with energy of a random type (choose between acid, cold, electricity, or fire), dealing 4d6 points of damage of the appropriate type to the target.
Above you, the floating protean begins to uncoil. It hissed—a long, trilling call that was as much bird as serpent—and its expression
was one of both anger and a delight at being angered.
"ENOUGH! says Galabast as he steps forward his stomp causes the entire tower to shake
"We are not here to start a war chaos worm but we will not be toyed with. If you would speak we would hear but harm them again and I will destroy you."
The bird-snake’s coils slithered over and around themselves in a complex, never-ending knot. When it spoke, the protean’s words were out loud and perfectly clear, yet there followed in their wake a sudden rush of whispers, half-heard and indecipherable.
"Warsongs are not yours to call, clock-man. War is in the meeting/in the eating. But we will talk—yes, we will speak." it looks to Devyhn "We know who you are longwalker/seeker/stormsmither and what you seek but we do not have it."
Naila who is trapped is strange tentacles of energy spits out "You bastard...You filthy snake! You attack us first and then agree to talk! Let me down this moment!"
The floating protean looks amused. "Art is wasted on the narrow-minded" it said, but its tone was agreeable, almost courtly and the energy filaments vanish dropping her.
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Devyhn is engulfed in silence and darkness. His skin prickles and he becomes suddenly more aware of the smell of his companions and the pressure of his gear and clothing against his skin.
After what seems to be an eternity, the veil is lifted from his senses.
This thing is dangerous. It wanted to make that perfectly clear. It does not fear Pharasma's servant. It might not even fear Pharasma herself.
"Galabast has tracked you here from the point of the soul's theft. You were present at the time and place of its taking. If you do not have it now, who does?"
He watches the creature, doing his best to interpret the sincerity of its response.
The chaos effect washes over him but his arcane re-enforced will is able to resist it
He draws his Adamantine scimitar and powers it up with Arcane strike... but he holds back from attacking
Bleyz throws off the effect of the Warpwave and stands at Lyaro's side, ready to attack if the creature refuses to talk, but having felt it's power, he has little confidence in his own ability to harm the thing.
Erik feels the snake's energy but it passes. Knowing nothing about proteans he follows the others in quietly drawing his sword.
"The little lives of mortal men are nothing to the Maelstrom’s ken. We will sing the Deep Songs long after your world is dust/fire/ash, oh yes! We did the task we were given nothing more/less what you seek is the summoner the false priest"
"Speak plain! Who is after the elixir? Who summoned you? Qali? Jbade?"
"You have come far, human child, but the hand with the knife is the arm of the body—oh yes. The end recalls the beginning" replies the protean
Neila screamed. It was a cry of rage and frustration so bestial that even the protean’s pupils dilated in surprise, the feathers on the back of its neck rising like a dog’s hackles.
Yet it remains silent clearly amused.
"So is there a way we can get you to give us the answers we need? In a form we shall understand?"
The creature looks at Devyhn.
"That you are a priest is false, yet you are not a false priest—that honor lies elsewhere, and death’s trumpeter blows quietly for himself." Though the thing continued to speak in riddles, those lamplike eyes bored into yours, and behind the detached, unbalanced demeanor of the creature, you see something of interest. A real desire for you understand his riddle. He waits eagerly for you to figure it out.
Lyaro turns to Devyhn "Could Ceyanan have something to do with this?
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"Perhaps there is more than one perpetrator," Devyhn speculates.
"The protean states that it is false that I am a priest. It is correct, my position within the Church is that of an Inquisitor. My duty is to find and put down heretics. The riddle seems to point to a heretical priest of Pharasma being involved. The Trumpeter could refer to Ceyanan, but it seems peculiar that the Herald would provide us with all the tools and assistance to solve the crime if he were a culprit."
"A priest at the temple where the body was kept, perhaps, though the only one we met was the Chief Priest, Khoyar. If he is the false priest, it would be a great insult to the Grey Lady. The junk dealer said the one who committed the crime worships Death but fears it. So, a heretic priest of Pharasma, who sought to claim the elixir in order to stave off natural death as long as possible."
"I think we need to go back to the Temple. I am certain that there will be clues to be found there, if not a soul-thief."
"A herald is known to announce their patrons presence loudly, and herald angels are depicted most commonly with trumpets, i'd say we have the agents of the conspiracy, but why?"
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"I am not eager to make an accusation against such a being as Ceyanan based on speculation and the cryptic remarks of a protean. I would need much more evidence than a single phrase which could be interpreted in many different ways. I agree with Devhyn, if the priest is false he could indeed have summoned a protean to murder Faldus and then steal his soul. We need to check that out. Maybe 'death's trumpeter' will reveal him or herself in the course of our investigation. If Ceyanan were false, I do not think he would need to summon a protean to enact his will. I think we must return to Temple."
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"The Spiral Pendant will get us back to Golarion, but I doubt it will be precise enough to get us back to Thuvia, much less the Temple of Pharasma in Thuvia. We're just as likely to end up in the middle of the Mawangi Expanse or the Eye of Abednego."
"Galabast, are you able to transport us to the Pharasman Temple in Thuvia?"
Erik looks puzzled throughout the exchange.
"I don't like these other-worldly riddles, but the priest at the temple was leading the unsuccessful investigation. That he found nothing does not count to his credit."
The protean grins "Good! Good! You see through the veils and hear the song!"
The earth shakes once more and the tower begins to crumble.
"Khoyar? I don't understand why would he want the elixir?
"He would not! Is that not correct?" says the protean laughing
"What did he pay you? I can double it if you return the soul!"
"Little monkey offers the hunter a stone!" says the protean
"The Void cannot be bought, soul-daughter. It sings its song/scream, and those who hear will dance." he replies
"So you answered the summon for the same reason you do everything—for the hell of it. And maybe because the idea of stirring up trouble in a church of Pharasma appealed to you...were is the soul now then?" says Gablast who had been silent till now.
"A life, a ring, a simple thing." The protean’s tone was the patient note of a parent with a particularly stupid child. "Can the hand that grasps let go/unclench/release? No and never." replies the protean.
The protean at this point flies up into the sky which was quickly turning into a cyclone as the tower was beginning to disintegrate and gravity seems to have cease to function as you all begin to float.
There is a loud crack and a shacking sensation and you all find yourselves on the plane of Axis once more.
"You have your answers, this is a mortal matter now and I leave the rest to you. Rest for a time and tomorrow you can safely travel using the spiral. I wish you luck on your hunt." says Gabalast
"I'm still confused...I hate riddles."
You rest for the night and prepare the next day for your return to the material plane.
Erik watches the pendant apin and braces himself for the transportation.
Lyaro is staring at the pendant intently trying to capture everything it does
You summons it's power and you find yourself in the street in front of the temple.
"So what the plan? Confront him and try to make him confess?"
"He has attempted to thwart the cycle of death itself, if we confront him to gather more evidence he will most likely be very prepared. We must do the same."
"We should act quickly. With his other-worldly connection he is likely already aware we are coming for him."
Erik turns to Devyhn
"With this blasphemy will he have lost Pharasma's blessing? What other sources of power might such a man have?"
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"The protean named a false priest as the culprit. Whatever power his has cannot have come from Pharasma, if this is true. He could be a sorcerer or wizard using arcane magic to impersonate divine power."
He moves towards the entrance of the temple, hand on his axe.
"We need to confront him. Delaying will give him to prepare for our inevitable arrival."
"A straight assault or should we attempt a surprise? It would do well to take him alive. Achren or I could try to sneak in and grab him then tie him with rope."
"I have elixir of truth which may aid us in interrogating him."
"False priests are the speciality of the followers of Razmir, or so I've heard, I think arcane magic maybe what we shall face. Sneaking you humans are way too loud and I suppose Achren can fly"
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"Having some of you approach in stealth is not a bad plan," Devyhn replies. "I am about to accuse a high priest of heresy in the very temple of his investiture. I cannot sneak in and do that. I need to approach him directly. My accusation will provide, I would think, sufficient distraction for you to move into positions to prevent him from escaping - at least through mundane means."
"Does that sound like a workable plan?"
"Sounds fine to me. I can be among the sneaky ones."