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Tenibri works his way around the pyramid, still gripping the acid flask tightly. He repeats the same words of power, "acida plaŭdo!" causing a new globe of acid to appear and fly at the same elemental, this time from behind.
You fire a small orb of acid at the target. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack to hit your target. The orb deals 1d3 points of acid damage. This acid disappears after 1 round.
A common flask of acid has many uses as a power component, particularly with attack spells.
Acid Splash (F): The spell deals +1 point of damage.
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Ayo takes a peaceful expression as she sees the elementals swarm around her. She recollects her morning meditations on her eventual death, particularly the various ways in which she might be roasted alive in her armor, choked to death by smoke, have her lungs burned out from the inside, and so forth. Considering such events unlikely, she composes a poem out loud.
"Three fires, but once four
Blazing bright and full of fight
Soon burning no more."
She swings at the elemental between her and Ignaru, but finds little room to strike. Her sword makes no contact with the elemental.
Nergi leaps up and swings her blade across the larger elemental's face!
The blade is on the mark, and carves off some of the creature's extraplanar shape.
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The Sapphire elemental again has its mind taken over by Ando's spell while Ruby gets splashed with another globe of arcane acid from Tenibri. The wind kicks up some dust into Ayo's face, preventing her from seeing her target momentarily, and she misses.
That same dust has the Ruby elemental flailing his arms wildly and missing Ayo.
His mind in Ando's grip, Sapphire turns on Ruby, mocking him in their elemental tongue, then pummels him across the face!
Xiǎo, Ignaru (-3), Elemental Emerald (-21), Ando, Nergi, Ayo, Elemental Ruby (-6), Tenibri, Elemental Sapphire and Goldenrod (Dead)
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The mobile bonfire that is Emerald nearly topples over with the force of Ignaru's jab and is relieved to see his second punch miss. Xiao's dart similarly is off mark, and flies into the night sky.
Emerald tries to return the attack, but his injury gets the best of him, and he collapses in between Nergi, Ignaru, and Ayo, his flames flickering brightly before flaring out.
Xiǎo, Ignaru (-3), Elemental Emerald (KOed), Ando, Nergi, Ayo, Elemental Ruby (-6), Tenibri, Elemental Sapphire and Goldenrod (Dead)
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These creatures seem upset about something, can anyone speak their language? Ando asks as he considers his options.
Seeing only the one creature left Ando opens his mind to the darkness of Pharasma's Boneyard, wisps of shadow stuff pour from his mouth, eyes and ears and swirl towards the last remaining elemental, wrapping around its limbs, trying to restrain it.
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Ayo's blade whiffs the air right next to the elemental, the licking flames turning her blade into hot glowing iron for a moment, but Nergi manages another direct hit with his rapier!
Xiǎo, Ignaru (-3), Elemental Emerald (KOed), Ando (Casting Shadow Trap, needs a target!), Nergi, Ayo, Elemental Ruby (-6), Tenibri, Elemental Sapphire (-7) and Goldenrod (Dead)
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Finding his simple strategy to be effective against these creatures, Tenibri repeats the casting, launching another globe of acid at the red elemental.
You fire a small orb of acid at the target. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack to hit your target. The orb deals 1d3 points of acid damage. This acid disappears after 1 round.
A common flask of acid has many uses as a power component, particularly with attack spells.
Acid Splash (F): The spell deals +1 point of damage.
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Sapphire turns to Ando, the flames around its mouth parting into the shape of a smile as it resists his spell.
Ruby attempts to uppercut Ayo, but she easily dodges left and right, avoiding both hits. Tenibri's acid globe douses more of the searing hot flames.
Sapphire finally manages to land a flaming fist, causing some Nergi's shirt to ignite in flames and singing her skin.
"The soft skins are not so invincible after all. Make them pay for trapping us in those cans for so long!"
Xiǎo, Ignaru (-3), Elemental Emerald (KOed), Ando, Nergi (-8, DC14 Reflex), Ayo, Elemental Ruby (-9), Tenibri, Elemental Sapphire (-7) and Goldenrod (Dead)
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With a painful grimace, the halfling quickly brushes off any cinders the elemental might have left on her clothing. Being toasted alive definitely isn't something she's looking forward to.
She swings her rapier at the attacker while brushing, and shouts something at the elemental.
"Glè mhath! Dèan e na slighe agad. Cuiridh mi thu ann an lampa ola aon uair 's gu bheil mi deiseil leat."
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Tenibri sees no reason to change his form of attack. Another globe of acid flies at the closest elemental.
You fire a small orb of acid at the target. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack to hit your target. The orb deals 1d3 points of acid damage. This acid disappears after 1 round.
A common flask of acid has many uses as a power component, particularly with attack spells.
Acid Splash (F): The spell deals +1 point of damage.
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Xiao's dart finds its mark, hitting the ruby elemental in the center of its head. Its flames fade fast as it collapses to the ground. Ayo and Nergi slash at Sapphire, one of them landing a hit, while Tenibri continues his gauntlet of successful acid attacks.
Xiǎo, Ignaru (-3), Elemental Emerald (Dead), Ando, Nergi (-8), Ayo, Elemental Ruby (Dead), Tenibri, Elemental Sapphire (-17) and Goldenrod (Dead)
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Likely to his frustration, Ando finds that the elemental isn't at all affected by his illusion spell.
The elemental cares little that it's the only one of its kind still standing, and aims to more punches at Ayo...
Yet its string of bad luck continues, and the flames from its fists only serve to warm the air nearby like a toasty fireplace.
Xiǎo, Ignaru (-3), Ando, Nergi (healed), Ayo, Tenibri, Elemental Sapphire (-17)
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Tenibri knew that he was adventuring with more experienced Pathfinders. Some Pathfinders he'd read about in the Chronicles, even. It's a wonder little ol' me was even chosen for this little series of quests.
Still, he finds that he's happy to contribute this simple little thing. I'm not in anyone's way, nobody's having to come rescue me, and bit by bit, my acid eats into these things.
With a satisfied grin, he launches another globe of acid at the last remaining elemental.
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Nergi pulls out a wand from her backpack and starts messing about with it. Her tattoo seems to radiate a weak light.
"In case I get any dumb ideas, remind me to not visit Tian during their New Year's fireworks."
She activates the wand and points it at herself.
"Everyone else okay? Also - what in the hells just happened here?"
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Ando looks around at the rapidly cooling elementals. I'm fine he says, massaging his recently burned skin. Not sure just what happened there, looks like some of those fireworks had some power to them. Ando mutters a quick spell, checking the surrounding area, and the remaining fireworks, for more magical auras.
We should probably get out of here, I doubt the soldiers will have missed that display. Hopefully we have what we need with my notes of the display.
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Ando notes that the conjuration aura he once sensed from the yellow and blue tubes has now faded, and doesn't detect any additional magical auras. More interestingly, the empty yellow and blue canisters have swollen metal sides while the others are all straight and uniform in their shape. Whatever caused the two canisters to deform seems to have happened from the inside out.
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Tenibri nods in assent. "We shouldn't dally, for sure. That was surely visible for miles, even if you weren't looking for it." He helps Ando load up the spent canisters, adding a whole one to the group. "For comparison, you know."
"Have we done everything we needed to do here? This was supposed to be a clue as to the location of the Summer Palace. 'Dog' Is that enough? I don't really know what that means, at least not in relation to the Summer Palace."
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Tenibri examines the strange, twin-chimneyed structure once more, and recalls Yue Xin's words: that this was a ruined communications station, and the directions to the palace were said to be writ in letters of green fire. Those of you who speak Tien know that the sign of the Dog is one of the many signs of the Dragon Empires' zodiac.
The remainder of the station lies in ruins with sparse vegetation, and not another person nor creature is seen nearby at this time of night.
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With the canisters safely stowed, you turn and march back down the medieval communication tower and down a gravel path towards Changdo. Just outside the station, you spot the familiar face of Yue Xin sitting on a camp stool and peering through a tripod-mounted telescope pointed at the night sky.
"Thousands of distant lanterns illuminating the endless void of darkness. Intriguing..." he mumbles to himself, too engaged in his stargazing to notice your approach.
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A few seconds pass before Yue Xin sits back in his chair, noticing you. Gesturing upward, he says, "I saw it too. So the letters of green fire invoke the sign of the Dog, eh? Dogs may be vicious gluttons or friendly allies, and the wise know to be cautious until a cur's true nature is revealed. But tell me, what does the Dog have to do with the lost palace?"
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Tenibri nods with enthusiasm. "Yes! That's what I'm wondering too!"
His enthusiasm bubbles out in a kind of agitation; he appears to both enjoy the process of discovery and at the same time be perturbed that he hasn't already figured out the answer.
"The zodiac, while important for time keeping and perhaps divination, can also be a navigational tool. I think if we can figure out what day or time is important, we could use the position of the Dog in the sky to locate the palace!"
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At Ando's question, Yue Xin purses his lips. "The outer part of Po Li is a veritable nest of clerks and history, but I'm afraid the state itself is fraught with bureaucracy. It will be no easy task slipping in and asking specific questions without provoking suspicion."
As Tenibri explains his thoughts, Yue Xin glances upwards once more and smiles. "An interesting deduction, and perhaps it might further be cemented by other findings of yours. What of your other exploration within Tian Xia?" He looks at Tenibri inquisitively. "There must have been more you'd learned from Mai Chun."
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Ando looks the young man up and down and makes sure they are not overheard.
Well, so far we have located a couple of maps with suggested locations for the palace and some correspondence between with an old general of Lung Wa as well as an ancient map of the region from times past.
Perhaps these things can be put together to learn more?
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Yue Xin listens to Ando closely, then smiles broadly. He stands and folds his tripod and chair up, delicately placing the telescope into a rucksack. "While I cannot quite connect what you've learned so far, it seems you are headed in the right direction," he says with a conspiratorial twinkle in his eye. "You've recovered valuable information from that ruined station that assists us both equally. The Ocular Council will appreciate this." Picking up his pack, he waves and brusquely excuses himself.
As Yue Xin leaves, Tenibri spies a folded up note underneath where Yue Xin's chair once was.
Associates,
The summer palace is lost, but not all who served there disappeared. I have a correspondent in Quain whose ancestor once lived in the palace. Travel to Lanming, that nation's capital, and seek out the martial arts master Jiang Fei of the School of the Jade Ogre, who has been told to expect you. The young woman has a favor to ask of you in exchange for her family’s lore about the palace's location.
– Mai Chun
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"Ocular council?", Nergi looks around the group, searching for some hint at an explanation.
She quickly dismisses the thought. "Eh... must have missed something when I wasn't looking. Let's go find this Fei person then!"
She tightens any loose belts and bandoliers and waits for the pathfinders to move out. A sudden realisation hits her. They will either have to walk who knows how far, or go 'cloud-racing'. The look on her face imples she doesn't look forward to either of those.
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Ando shoulders his pack and readies to set off. Walking or flying, both offer opportunities for exciting new experiences.
He stops, and then remembers that his armour remains packed away in his haversack. With a sigh he drops the bag and begins to unpack it. Can one of you give me a hand with this lot...?
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As you're packing up, Chie Fujioka emerges from Changdo. "The symbol of the Dog? Yeah, I'm not sure I get it either! Let's hope you'll learn more in Lanming, and Mai Chun can make something of all of this." She waves her hand over all of you again, the transmutation making you all feel incredibly light on your feet and nearly incorporeal in your composition.
After merging with the clouds, you quickly arrive in Lanming without incident. The rowdy city is dotted with massive temples and government buildings. The shouts of merchants hawking wares and students practicing their forms are quieter in this part of the city, but the streets still bustle with activity.
Chie asks around momentarily about the School of the Jade Ogre, her questions met with quizzical looks, then returns to you. "Okay, I've got directions to the place! ... Although they kept referring to it as The Dumpling House. Weird, right?" She points you towards a small shop in a slow, shabby section of Lanming. Rows of old and run-down dwellings line the streets. One small apartment has been converted into a food stall, where a handsome woman with dark hair chats with a few customers. The sign above the shop reads "Jiang Fei's Dumpling House and School of the Jade Ogre Style."
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Ando heads over to the dumpling house, clanking as he goes, sweating in the days heat. Entering he dabs his forehead with a well used handkerchief and looks around for anyone who might be Jiang-Fe. He politely enquires with the first person he sees.
Excuse me, I am looking for Jiang Fe, master of the Jade Ogre Style, might you know where she can be found?
He gives the group a, well come on gesture, impatient to find the Summer Palace.
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As Ando mentions the name Jiang Fe, the woman ceases talking to her gnomish customer and looks up at Ando, smiling brightly. She appears on the younger side of middle age and keeps her hair tied up with a beautiful jade comb. She wears the simple garb of a martial artist. "If you said Jiang Fe, Master of the Jade Ogre Style, you're looking right at her!" She enthusiastically points her thumb at herself. "Are you interested in lessons? The Tien man accompanying you looks as though he may already know some martial arts of his own!" She says with a nod at Ignaru.