Enora buys black robes for everyone.
”Okay! So we have to stick to our original story of the korvosan noble and his bodyguards. We want to have a credible appearance. So who is the face here?!“
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"'Face'?" Dr. Vitruvian echoes as he finishes putting on his robe. "If anyone's face is unsuitable, there are ways it can be tailored for the occasion..."
He reaches once again into his big black bag and pulls out a small flask of bubbling, purple-brownish syrupy liquid.
"Give me a minute or two, and if needed, I could even make a few more."
Enora gets everyone a black robe, and donning it at early eve, it really makes you look like a shady bunch. Adjusting your gear over them proves a slight hassle, but nothing troubling.
Arriving at the meeting point, it's near 22:00 PM.
The air is slightly moist and feels cold to the skin.
Enora uses a charge of her wand of mage armor and cast ‘false life’.
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Sele tries to figure out how to fix him up, but doesn't have much of an idea
The good (or at least non-Evil) doctor has already told you.
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Sele tries to figure out how to fix him up, but doesn't have much of an ideaThe good (or at least non-Evil) doctor has already told you.
That would be most welcoming!! ;-)
Your band of groupies has now become 4, eager to hear of your investigation into The Feasters.
Harlis casts a restoration on Thomasz, and the young man's eyesight is restored, the skin painlessly turning back into proper eyelids.
He blinks a lot, his eyes sensitive to the first shed of light in many years, if not to the first time ever.
That night you find yourselves robed in black in the shadow of a lone menhir overlooking Conqueror’s Bay under the dark sky on the night of the new moon.
Shortly after midnight, a lone person in similar black robes makes his way along the path to the menhir, his approach signaled by a bright lantern. The man arrives and states simply, "Follow me to prove your devotion to
the Feasters of the Heart."
He then turns and walks back toward Palin’s Cove along the same path. The groupies with you seem excited to be so close to finding the cult and
eagerly follow the man.
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Before then, the doctor doles out a few of today's tonics and remedies:
To Harlis, he gives a small phial of cheap glass stamped into a fish shape, topped with a simple misting mechanism and filled with a glistening pale-turquoise fluid.
"If you must take to the sea, spritz this onto your face and arms before diving in; you should be able to swim despite all your encumbrance."
"If you must fight, I recommend this," He continues as he also gives Harlis a tall canister of what looks and smells like some kind of au jus, but with an odd tint to its color.
To Enora he gives a little gelatinous bead that looks like a cat's-eye marble. "This will sharpen your perspicacity when you need it most," He says as he takes another one for himself.
He also gives her a thin bottle of effervescent pink syrup with a sour-sweet scent.
"This will protect your vital organs. It may cause any number of strange sensations, but they should be harmless."
To Sele he gives a funny apparatus of droppers, like you saw him partake of himself a while back.
"Distilled essence of majesty, if you will. Use it when you need it."
He also gives Sele what looks more than anything else like a green churro.
"'Sele the Thorn', I understand they call you? Let's say I made this especially for you."
As they set off, he eats his cat's-eye bead, and also some of what appears to be a round of dried black seaweed.
The man from the standing stone leads you to the foundry floor, i now quiet aside from one thing, a dozen cultists in black robes like those are wearing stand in a circle in front of the furnace trough.
All their faces are hidden beneath their upturned hoods.
The cultist who led you here motions for them to step into the center of the circle, then joins his fellow cultists.
Enora accompanies the cultists and tries to fit in ...
Let us hope that we find our missing Pathfinder here and find out what this is all about!
As the rest of the cultists maintain the chanting, one of them-a female by the sound of the voice-speaks up.
"You have come to serve the goddess, but she has no need of the weak and no need of those who know not obedience. You must prove yourselves worthy, and in return you shall be granted enlightenment, power, the promise of eternal life, and the honor of serving. If you would kneel before her, then you must willingly bear her symbol of power upon your flesh. Her holiness will be your holiness, and her blessing will aid you in the tests to come. Who will wear the Sihedron and know the power of the goddess?”
When she completes her speech, the cultists cease their chant and the circle opens on the eastern end to provide access to the trough of molten slag running from the furnace.
The four groupies eagerly accept. After they receive their branding, she looks over to you.
"You," she says, pointing to Vassago, "Would you bear the mark of the Sihedron upon your flesh?"
Enora nods and steps forward without speaking...
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After spending the day healing Thomasz and then giving him some further guidance to the outside world and to sight himself Harlis formed up with his group to goto the meeting. He allowed his worry to show through to his companions, but went uncharacteristically quiet when joined by the extra hangers-on. He bowed in thanks to Zephyrus' gifts but otherwise continued his silence, unhappy at the subterfuge being asked by the Society.
Finally asked the question he stayed back to allow each their own decision. As Sele stood firm he simply nodded to his tall reptilian companion and echoed the "No."
Those of you accepting the brand, receive it upon a place of your choosing.
She takes the white hot iron from the trough. Surprisingly enough, the heated metal causes no pain and leaves behind a magical tattoo of sorts.
You now get a +2 on fort saves.
The woman is pleased with the people accepting her patroness' mark, but seems doubtful at the ones not doing so. Nonetheless, once those who accept are branded, you all go back to the center of the circle, and the cultists resume their chanting.
The woman stands at the furnace's entrance, and then speaks to the potential initiates again.
"Serving Lissala is not a simple task, and one must be willing to suffer and sacrifice to attain the benefits of rule. The fire in your heart must burn brighter than this furnace. In this place metal is separated from dross and given new form. Who among you is ready to be remade in the image of the divine? To join us, to become one of the Feasters of the Heart, you must walk through the furnace. In that hellish chamber, your devotion will be your armor."
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Enora is not sure but she is so eager to understand the power behind this cult.
”I ... I will do it!“ she exclaims.
The woman seems pleased, as the brave halfling steps forward.
When Enora stands before her, she asks her, now in a conversation tone;
"Tell me: whom do you serve above all others? At whose command would you walk through flame?"
Without hesitation Enora answers.
”I serve the path of understanding and try to gain power over magical properties to be able to control the mysteries of this world!“
The woman opens the furnace.
"Be it so."
Enora steps in and the door closes, and some time goes by, during which temperatures go way up, causing discomfort to say the least.
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After the ordeal, a door opens up, allowing Enora to step into a waiting room, where she is received by another black robed individual, who greets her and motions for her to move clear from the entrance she came through.
Sele steps up next, and is asked the same.
"Tell me: whom do you serve above all others? At whose command would you walk through flame?"
Oh dear Nethys! What am I doing here!!??
She uses her clw wand on herself.
The woman opens the door to the furnace, having Sele step in.
"It be so."
Within there is no trace of Enora, but given it is a trial, there is a fair chance she got out somewhere.
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Your ordeal in the furnace lasts 5 rounds, during which you can take actions as if you would in combat, should you choose so.
Over the course of the stay in the furnace, the heat deals 24 fire dmg to you.
After the ordeal, a secret door opens up, and Sele joins Enora in the guest room.
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Back at the foundry room:
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"Who next shall take the trial?"
As Dr. Zephyr steps up next,the woman again asks:
"Tell me: whom do you serve above all others? At whose command would you walk through flame?"