Moving almot in unison the crack pot team of Pathfinders move in. Nuethro Lands a solid punch on Blue while Golthwur shows a mighty display of Magical 'Mastery' such as which an apprentice could consider child's play. Blossym Deftly moves up the ladder and her rapier finds a soft spot on the man with the red sash meanwhile Mei moves into position hoping to get in a few swings of her weapon. Stonelance waiting for the precise moment lets off a volley to finish the Man in purple. Golthwur is left thinking did his staff truly take down an archer Single Handedly!
The Archers gaining a moment to think return the attack back.
The One in the Red sash drops his bow and draws his weapon as slashes out with his Battleaxe at Blossym but misses as his footing is a little off.
Blue does the same and brings his Battle axe across Nuethro connecting solidly.
Yellow Takes a shot at Nuethro yet the Monk deflects the arrow aside with a mighty "HA!"
Nuethro
Blossym
Mei
Golthwur
Stonelance
Archers
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Stonelance seeing the man in purple fall, quickly leaps forward and moves thru a gap in the wall. Seeing another archer come into few the crossbowman raises his weapon to his shoulders and places the the man in red in his sites. With a gentle exhales and a soft click a bolt fly's free towards its target.
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Seeing the archer with the red sash drop from Stonelance's bolt, Blossym looks down at the wizard and shouts, "Well done, Golthwur! You truly are the Slinger of Staves!" Winking at the boltace, she flashes a smile and twirls and races along the battlements. Turning north, she accelerates to her full speed and soars into the air as she attempts to leap across the gap left by the destroyed fortress doors.
With full twist, Blossym summersaults through the air, landing on the far side in a delicate pose. She leans over the side of the wall towards the inner courtyard and waves, "Hiya, Mei!
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The wizard hurls his quarterstaff at the archer above by means of unseen magics, before moving next to the nearest doorway.
Nuethro shows his Martial Prowess spinning through the air. Sadly only one of his attacks hits home in a Vital area yet his kick didn’t drive far enough.
Stonelance sends a bolt from his crossbow straight into the back of the man with the red sash.
Blossym seeing the man in red fall to the ground with an arrow in his back, rushes around the stockade clearing the gap in the wall with ease.
Mei not one to fall short of the Party rushes up the stairs and helps Nuethro finish off the man in blue by thrusting out with her Katar and brutally savages the archer. He falls to the ground quite dead.
Golthwur waits rather impatiently by the door into the fort.
The Man with a Yellow bandana upon his brow looks about the carnage that has befallen his brethren. He Thows his bow over the side of the crenelation and drops to his knees and speaks with a squeak ”Please don’t kill me. I surrender.”
Will the party accept his surrender or commit a heinous act? We shall find out soon.
Nuethro
Blossym
Mei
Golthwur
Stonelance
Archers
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"It certainly took too long enough to come to your senses.". Golthwur says to the archer. "Had you not heard me announce my presence? Perhaps if my companions had troubled to make known to you the fact that I, Golthwur Strath, Vanquisher of Villians and Repromander of Renegades, was within your midst, you would have concluded earlier that defeat was inevitable."
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Blossym brandishes her rapier in the guards face, "We see doors to the inner keep on both the east and west walls. Tell us about the layout inside of the keep beyond these doors! Oh, and how many other guards are there? And... and who is in charge and is he... or she inside the keep? No, no... better yet... tell me everything you know or I let the old man see what body parts you still have that an be used in brewing his potions!"
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"Now see here!" intercedes Golthwur, "Brewing potions is a most serious and measured endeavor, one that requires careful apportionment of substances and calls for the utmost purity of components. I would never..."
The wizard's ire over the mere suggestion that he would utilize materials within his magical concoctions that he personally considers to be substandard is quickly abated, when finally his reason--having finally caught up to his pride--informs him that the elven mage was attempting to intimidate the man. In an effort to play along, Golthwur begins anew, "I would never... utilize body parts for a mere potion, when the same, whilst still living, would make a most suitable subject for experimentation. For I, Golthwur Strath, Architect of Animation and Framer of Flesh, am well-versed in the arts of necromancy!"
Looking the archer in the eyes, "So now, sir." he continues, "Do you wish to speak fully and truthfully to my elven companion or, instead, surrender both body and soul to Golthwur Strath, Underwriter of Undead and Caliph of Corpses?"
Listening to Blossym's demands and threat the archer begins to squirm and real at the thought of becoming magical components or new subject for magical learning. He begins to sweat and rattle off what he knows, "Inside the main building a couple monks meditate usually. Down below, you can't go up any more as you can see, he points to the broken tower that once was there, a few more of our group watch over some magic-folk in the workshop. The training hall below is where the remaining monks train against whatever the magic-folks can cook up. Further in the catacombs of the Monastery is where you will find Zamir and that damned cat of his. Zamir leads our bandit group.” He looks as all of you begin to surround him and he squeals ”Please don’t kill me!”
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Mei leads the last crossbowman, with Stonelance in tow, to the way they came in,
"Come on...stick him!"
"No, we shall let him go. I am a Pathfinder, there must be some honor to this!"
She gives him a days worth of trail rations, unstrings his crossbow, and looks him straight in the eyes,
"Just in case you weren't in the party of thieves that took our scepter the other night, there is a campsite," she gives him directions and his unstrung crossbow, "anything less than full speed until you can run no more, and my friend here starts firing at you. Don't...come...back!"
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"Anyone got a wand or something." Points to the gash on his arm.
Golthwur catches but a brief glimpse of the wound and then quickly looks away unable to much withstand a prolonged sight of blood.
"'Tis yet another reason why mundane forms of combat are so distasteful." The wizard says scornfully, but only once he is certain that he has sufficiently steeled himself to avoid losing any of the contents of his stomach. "I have nary seen a man or beast bleed out following an encounter with a well-placed spell of fireball."
The Archer begins to hightail it out of the place as he is now fearing his life may come to a very pin cushion ending.
With the information in hand you all enter the building trying to be as stealthy as possible
This open courtyard is paved with flagstones and relatively free of debris. Statues ring the central open area, each depicting a tiger-headed man in a variety of martial arts poses surround the open space in the middle. Behind the statues are four sets of stairs. The stairs to the north descend into darkness, and the stairs on the south side once led upward, but have collapsed in a heap. The walls of this inner structure have partly collapsed and range from 15 to 30 feet high. The remains of stairs on the south side that once led up to balconies above are now little more than heaps of rubble. In the two corners on the north side, intact stairs descend into the basement. The courtyard is open to the sky and has a flagstone floor, and most of the rubble here has been cleared away.
As you all enter the room you look about to see if danger is about. Mei notices the wind is rather playful twisting the leaves about the courtyeard. Everyone else notices two of the three northernmost statues are actually monks who stand on stone blocks, wearing grey robes, and are posed and meditating. The monks wear masks of the tiger’s eye and resemble the statues. They appear to have not heard you enter the building as they are in deep meditation
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“It appears that we have not been detected.” whispers Golthwur Strath, Noter of the Known and Overstater of the Obvious, seemingly to no one in particular. “I see no need to risk further harm to our mundane monk or any of the rest of you. I suppose a well-time glamour, one employing illusory sound, would be sufficient to avoid untidy conflict. ” The wizard strokes his beard. The mage momentarily meditates on the myriad magical methods within his means by which to manipulate the malevolent men and manage the mission.
Following a series of contemplations (as well as a series of alliterations), Golthwur notes, “Perhaps a sound similar to that of their felled colleagues could drive them outside so we can enter in further without provocation. Should we wish them to stay put, perhaps, the sound of a gust of wind, a droning chant, or animalistic cries from the jungle could also be utilized to mask our descent down the stairs. The possibilities are limitless, I suppose, for one of my capability and creativity.”
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Seeing, though barely hearing, the monk sneak away to allow an opening at the doorway, Golthwur decides that he could just as readily do the same. Nevertheless, he decides that it could not hurt to create a glamour resembling the distant howl of a monkey coming from the jungle beyond the walls to coincide with his movement as further aid in avoiding detect. Just in case.
"Heh." the wizard lets slip a chuckle as he quietly descends the first few steps of the stairwell. "More stealthy than even the mundane. Even without my magic!" It is then that a pang of arthritis in his leg causes him to halt his descent. "And not a healer among us." he laments.
As the mighty manipulator of malevolent men prepares his casting and the spell activates without a hitch the Monks standing stoic make no movements or actions to leave the building. It seems they are in deep meditation at the moment and are disinterested in anything outside.
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"The monks are unmoved. They must be blissfully unaware of our presence. Once again, my magic has done its work." Golthwur asserts in a hushed tone. "I suggest that we confirm with the wayfinder-that-is-not-a-wayfinder-at-least-not-in-the-traditional-sense, but I suspect the object we seek is down these stairs."
As Golthwur pulls the Not-So-Wayfinder from his pocket he holds it out damning the thing "If only it altimeter" the needle points in a general South by South west direction from his current location.
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Golthwur returns up the step where the others remained. When he returns to the top, his eyes follow the direction of the needle, past Neuthro, to the far corner. He strains his eyes to see if there is anything of interest there that could be hiding the artifact-that-is-not-an-artifact (an "arti-fiction"?).
The Monks stoic stance still does not falter nor do they impede your decent into the lower basement of the monastery.
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"Yo gurl, we straight West Side at the moment!!!"
Mei cannot resist holding her tri-bladed katar up into a "W". She folds her arms up, slanting back slightly to appear like she's leaning up against the nearest statue-making a duckface.
Not wanting to split the party in the descent into the relatively unknown, Mei will try and sneak over to the party on the east side of the area.
As Mei crosses the room she only makes it half way across the Monk's snap out of their meditation and call out "रुकें! टाइगर आंख मोनास्टी में कौन प्रवेश करता है?" The monks begin to take a fighting stance and are poised to strike should they not hear the response the desire.
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"Looks like you were destined for the West Side...for life..."
"Time to party!"
Mei straightens up, not caring if they understand, she growls in common,
"I am Mei Du Xiao, compatriot to the fantastical Golthwur Strath. I have come here to kill you and all of yours and free those whom you hold prisoner. You mei come and die now!"
Mei's voice cannot help but crack a bit, as she tries and stifle a laugh, and she snorts a bit-stemming from the attempt at intimidation while mentioning the wizard's name.
"I am Mei Du Xiao, compatriot to the fantastical Golthwur Strath. I have come here to kill you and all of yours and free those whom you hold prisoner. You mei come and die now!"
Seeing that the monks seem undisturbed by the mention of his name, "Golthwur Strath", Golthwur Strath mutters a rebuke to Mei. "An elementary error, my dear air elementress. Your failure lies in the lack of alliteration! Had you wisely worded your warning as Golthwur Strath, my Conjuring Compatriot, or Golthwur Strath, Field Marshall of the Fantastical, then the battle would already have been done and our victory would have been spoken of only in the past tense rather than amidst the present tension!"
Becoming dissatisfied with your answers, and lack of speaking their tongue, they attack.
Blossym
Stonlance
Golthwur
Monks
Mei Du Xiao
Nuethro Hisk
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Golthwur moves forward to address one of the monks.
"Do you not know? Are you not aware?" he addresses the monk. "Behold, you are dealing with none other than, Golthwur Strath, Constable of Combat and Furher of Figh..." The wizard's words are cut off as bolt flies past him and finds its mark, deep within the monk that he had been addressing, apparently leaving a sizable wound.
"Fairly effective, I suppose. For one lacking magic.." Golthwur notes. He then turns to face the other monk.
"Do you not know? Are you not aware?" he addresses the other monk. "Behold, you are dealing with none other than, Golthwur Strath, Completer of Conquest and Viceroy of Victory!" He then unleashes his staff with mystic might!
As the staff returns to his hand, Golthur notes. "Ah! Far more effective as I do not bear the burden of having to reload.."
The monk in blue stumbles forward to attach Blossym and he appears to not be holding back, but his aim is off as he winces from the arrow.
The red Follows shortly behind this time attempting to swing at Mei his fist landing yet the monk stops just short as he feels the sore muscle from being whacked with a stick by an man.
Mei Du Xiao
Nuethro Hisk
Blossym
Stonlance
Golthwur
Monks
Lashing out with her Tri-bladed Katar Mei utterly inverserates the Monk with the Red mask.
as the Crimson masked monk falls Stonelance fires at the dead monk. But his shot still continues past Mei and the human Vudrani. Hitting the Monk in the Blue mask solidly in the chest nearly pinning him to the wall.
Now that the "Welcoming" Party has been dealt with you are able to observe the Not-Quite-A-Wayfinder is pointing away from the stairs but while fumbling around with it Golthwur realizes, after Blossym points it out, that the needle is pointing downward too underground.
Making your way down the steps you come into a large basement room that has been set up as a workshop. Four workbenches are covered with odd tools. Three men and one woman are working at the benches, each chained in place by a heavy iron collar. They look up you and you can clearly see they are Meager and weak from being over worked and under fed.
Two men dressed similarly to the Archers above are startled as you enter and one clad in Orange yells at you "Get Out!" the one in purple follows in suit "You have no business here." neither seem to be reaching for any weapons nor making moves to stop your intrusion
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Nuethro claps as his companions quickly take out the two monks. "Well done. Didn't even need to lift a finger." He chuckles.
He then follows the group as the head down. Seeing the conditions of the chained prisoners, he frowns as he looks at their 'guards'.
Sensing that two of the guards are reluctant to confront them, he tries to intimidate them into leaving. "You two," he points at the two guards, "leave now if you want to live. We just took out the two monks above without them even hitting us. Do you want to be next?"
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After watching Nuethro's efforts, the arrogant Golthwur pushes past the monk and strides confidently forward towards the two men clad in bright, complementary colors. "Behold, you quivering fools. Do you not realize that you are now in the presence of Golthwur Strath, Duke of the Dark Arts and Archivist of the Arcane?"
The old wizard waves his staff with one hand while gesturing with the other, after uttering a few quiet syllables, he cries "Be gone! Lest you face the Golthwur's WRATH!".