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Xugra has trouble reading the Gillman as he speaks with the party, but he at least manages feels comfortable enough that he hasn't offended the man.
"It is? Oh, one of yours you mean? W-would you like it back? We found it among the spikes near the entrance, we didn't know it belonged to anyone."
He gives a crooked smile and waits for a response to his and the dwarves questions.
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Arsena nods to the gillman and flashes a nervous smile. ”Howdy, Uori. Name's Arsena. Pleased to meetcha. If this cloak belongs to one of yours, I'm sure Kaya would be happy to return it - just keeping it warm for him, ain't that right?” she asks the halfling. She gestures for Kaya to go forward, hoping the young mage’s gregariousness can ease the tension of the Pathfinders’ intrusion.
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Kaya steps up towards the gilman, pulling the cloak off and setting it on the floor. "Hello Uori, I am Kaya Leafwing and these are my companions. We were chased inside the caves by a Minotaur and were wondering what you were doing as well as what all the writings on the wall mean. If you could assist us we would be grateful. We would be happy to return the cloak to it's rightful owner."
"That is very considerate of you, Kaya. Most land-dwellers that I have observed demonstrate the principle they describe as 'finders, keepers.' However, I will return the cloak to the priests so that they can give it to future pilgrims."
He smiles in what you sense is a friendly manner, revealing many sharp teeth, and walks out of the water to collect the cloak and lay it on the pile of clothes.
Uori returns his attention to you. "This cave was once sacred to Aroden. Land-dwellers would come here to meditate on the aspects of the Dead God before he died. Now that he's dead, they do not come. They used the stone city as an altar, performing rituals of various sorts.
"We gillmen come here now. We make a pilgrimage to these waters when the moon is full because that is when the waters in the cave are highest. These waters are especially pure."
As you converse with him, you eventually notice that he has warmed to you considerably and that he is intently watching whichever one of you is speaking.
"Be careful in the caves, though. Something killed the Azlanti who came before me, but I have not seen anything. Maybe it was the minotaur that your ran from, maybe something else."
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"Rituals? Seems weird to come all the way out here and perform rituals on a model of the city, instead of just going to Absalom and praying there."
He shrugs his backpack off his shoulders and retrieves his notepad to jot the information down. "What kind of rituals? I bet Janira would like to know." As the words come from his mouth he looks behind them, wondering if their guide had managed to break away from the Minotaur.
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Kaya listens intently as the Gilman shares his knowledge. As Xugra responds and begins writing things down she muses, rattling off her thoughts in quick succession, "a dead god, I haven't heard of that occurring recently or... honestly at all. I need to do some research apparently. But that said, it is quite possible that this was just a shrine for the local worshippers. Regardless it is knowledge of high importance." She continues softly chattering to herself about how a god could die for several minutes.
When her allies are done with any further questions she speaks in a measured tone to the Gilman, "thank you very much for your time Uori. Our organization seeks allies and attempts to avoid making enemies, thus we are greatful you did not see us as an enemy. We will continue searching these caves, as now we know there is a danger. We will seek to confront and remove the danger so that future pilgrims may come here safely. In addition, we will encourage any individuals that wish to study these caverns for historical reasons to avoid doing so during a full moon and to never disturb the purity of the waters. Thank you again for you time."
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Recognizing those better with words are handling this stranger quite well and pleased no one has drawn a weapon yet, he lumbers over to the strange little city.
'Strange. Me so big! Like giant...Durvak no like giant though...perhaps Durvak defend widdle city from Durvak?' he considers, chuckling audibly at his own joke.
Interjecting in the other conversations, he asks the stranger "What dey do to city? Why foller dead god?"
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Smiling as he turns to the sorcerer, Durvak happily shares. "Dear boy. Durvak follow Irori. Bestest god, ya see? He tell all no need be strong. No need be nimble. Need be wise. One kin do all wit wise choices. Wit practice all kin better self. Need ter try is all. Durvak give speeches in square and teach others, wit faith all possible!"
Continuing to explain the benefits of Irori, enlightenment, the pursuit of knowledge, he becomes more and more animated. Finally, taking an deep breath he offers, "Iffen you want more, come to my speech. Durvak happy teach you how better yous life."
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Arsena nods and smiles at Uori, trying to hide her being unsettled by his sharp teeth. ”Much obliged for the information, friend - and for the warning. If it’s alright with you, I think we’d like to take some notes, maybe sketch out what’s in here a little bit just for record keepin’.”
Once Xurga is done taking notes, Arsena borrows his pen to take some of her own. She hunches over her parchment, as if she doesn’t want anyone to see it. Indeed, anyone trying to look over her shoulder sees notes on the cave, but the notes seem to be musings on how to turn a profit on offering wilderness tours to the cave to various pilgrims and tourists.
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Uori bows to Kaya, "Thank you."
The gillman turns to focus on Xugra. After a moment, he answers, "Different rituals. I believe they were reenacting different aspects of the Dead Gods' life as a mortal."
While Durvak is speaking to Theodic, the dwarf feels a sacred sense of purpose and duty fill his heart.
"That if fine," Uori says to Arsena, "Feel free to conduct your investigations but do be careful. If you do drive out the predator in the area, I will be most thankful. Oh. If you wish to enter the pool, please disrobe fully so to not taint the waters."
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Xugra shrugs when Uori answers his question.
"Doesn't tell me much, but the society will probably send more pathfinders out here, they'll probably know more." He writes down the gillmans answer then puts his notebook away and puts his pack back on.
"I'd love to go for a swim, but at the very least let's check these tunnels first and make sure they're clear. How about the eastern tunnel first?"
"Stay safe," Uori bids you as you head down the eastern tunnel.
=====================
Lost in thought, Kaya fails to hear the scuffing and scratching sound coming from around the corner of the tunnel. She bumps into Durvak's rear when he stops to listen.
To those who hear it, it sounds like shuffling foot steps.
Around the corner, Durvak and Xugra see skeletons milling about a larger cave. One of them turns its empty eye sockets towards the hall where you stand and begins to raise its sword.
Combat! Bold may act. Round 1
Arsena
Kaya
Skeletons
Durvak
Xugra
Theodic
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Arsena immediately rushes forward, glaive at the ready with the utmost confidence. Uh, skeletons, hm… don't remember quite what they're about. Not a problem, I'll smack ‘em down just the same.
Bathed in dramatic shadows from the bright magical light shining in this confined space, Arsena’s grin takes on an eerie quality. She bounces on the balls of her feet, gripping her glaive loosely as if it's a plaything rather than a weapon. She seems coiled and ready, but not tense; against these foes she looks more like she's ready to box or even dance with the skeletons despite the size and weight of her pole arm.
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Arsena smashes the first skeleton to move into her range with a powerful swipe of her glaive. Its bones scatter across the floor, lifeless as they should have always been. Three more skeletons approach, but they both show uncanny agility in dodging her reflexive strikes. The first one catches her off guard and gives her a wicked looking gash with its rusted, broken sword. The other two find her reciprocally difficult to touch.
Arsena also notes a dead body further in the cave--this one not animated--and some crude furniture.
Kaya chants a spell as soon as she sees the skeletons swarming the huntress.
Combat! Bold may act. Round 1/2
Arsena (-2 hp) Round 2
Kaya Round 2
Skeletons (red, yellow, black)
Durvak
Xugra
Theodic
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Kaya's eyes grow wide as she sees the skeletons attack Arsena. She blurts out, "I've read about these, they are animated undead skeletons! I don't know a lot about these in particular, but most Undead are..." She continues rattling off a list of things commonly associated with the Undead.
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Arsena winces at the cut one of the skeleton gave her. ”Who’s overwhelmed?” she shoots back at Theodic, a grin playing on her face.
She nimbly hops back, leaning into the landing before translating that energy forward into an elegant and powerful slash at the skeleton in her range.
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After Xugra gets over the initial shock of a bunch of undead hanging around in the cave, he draws his axe with a grin and hustles passed Arsena. Before he takes a swing he imparts some knowledge on the group from his previous brush with the living dead.
"I don't have one, but if you guys have bludgeoning weapons, us 'em!"
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Kaya moves up behind Theodic and briefly touches his shoulder, "this may help give you a brief glance into the future and aid your next action."
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"Undead?" asks the cleric, rubbing his chin a moment. Suddenly his face lights up. "Durvak know how deal with 'em!"
Stumbling forward to the back of the line, he turns his face to point his birthmark at the oncoming foes. Closing his eyes, he cries out "Irori 'elp us!"
A burst of yellow light shoots out from his face, engulfing all his companions, but doing nothing to them. Upon reaching the front of the line it assaults the undead standing there.
The light shining form Durvak illumines the skeleton in front of Arsena for a moment, and then the skeleton falls to the floor in a clatter of bone and rusty metal.
Xugra moves past the huntress to engage the remaining undead. One of the skeletons takes a swing at him as he turns the corner, but rattles off of the stone wall. The fighter turns on that skeleton and obliterates it with one swing of his axe.
The last skeleton moves around the corner to engage Xugra. The skeleton scores a lucky hit and sticks its rusty sword deep into Xugra's abdomen.
Theodic releases a ray of disruptive energy that barely misses Xugra's shoulder. When the ray strikes the skeleton, a few ribs, a couple finger bones, and a femur fall off of the skeleton. Kaya then channels a bit of luck into the sorcerer.
Arsena tries to finish off the creature, but its mismatched armor harmlessly deflects the glaive.
Combat! Bold may act. Round 2/3
Arsena (-2 hp) Round 3
Kaya Round 3
Skeletons (black -2)
Durvak
Xugra (-7 hp)
Theodic (Diviner's Fortune)
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Seeing two drop upon his channeling, Durvak smiles. Though, the rusty weapon in his companions gut seems to bother him, he again turns to expose his birthmark.
"Tanks Irori! Again, but otherway."
Another bright light emanates from his mark. Spreading over his companions and engulfing the undead. As it envelopes each companion, a tingling sensation erupts from their wounds; the skeleton seems unaffected.
Arsena and Xugra feel their bodies healing under Iori's divine attention as Durvak prays.
Xugra shatters a small stalagmite as a ray of energy flies past his flank. Most of the skeletons ribs fall out from inside its armor, and its jaw clatters to the ground.
Arsena finishes off the wobbly foe before it can draw its sword arm back one more time.
The rusty and broken equipment on the skeletons is worthless to you, but as you scour through the remains, you find a leather quiver with a score of masterwork arrows. A broken bed, broken chair, a crude wooden desk, and a crude bookcase furnish the room. On the floor in front of the desk is a corpse with several stab wounds and claw wounds on his body. The flesh is moist and bloated, pale on the top and mottled purple on the floor facing side.
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Kaya runs up as the bones stop rattling with her eyes wide, looking at the injuries, "are you guys okay?" She takes a glance into the room and makes a quick detect magic scan before letting better searchers than her figure out what everything means.
After making sure everyone is healed up Kaya double checks something that was bothering her earlier. Looking up closer she feels a light draft. "Hey, someone help me move this bookshelf, I think there is a tunnel behind it."
The arrows are magical (Spellcraft DC 18)
The pearl radiates magic (Spellcraft DC 16)
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Xugra grunts approvingly as the final skeleton falls and taps Arsena on the shoulder.
"Don't suppose you could hit me with one of those wands, eh?" He points to the wound on his abdomen that, despite the healing, is still bleeding quite a bit.
When Kaya finds a bookcase he raises an eyebrow and moves to help the her out.
"This is the strangest cave I've ever been in, for the record. Do you think this leads to the other tunnel?"
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Spying the downed body, Durvak hustles over to inspect it. After a few minutes, he glances up to the group. "Uh, me thinks it's dead Jim."
Glancing to Xugra, "Iffen ya need, I kin do it."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Xugra moves the flimsy bookcase out of the way with ease, revealing a relatively narrow crack in the wall. The dancing lights illuminate it enough to show that it passes into another cave tunnel.
With the bookcase out of the way, you faintly hear a feminine voice coming from the distance down the tunnel. It reminds you of Janira's voice. "As the legendary Grega . . . ccessfully ba . . . beasts . . . dee . . . gi . . . panse, so sha . . . defeat . . . servant . . . Lamashtu!"
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Kaya steps back as the bookshelf is muscled out of the way and looks back at the arrows and pearl, "I think these are magical, give me a second to see what they might be."
When she hears the voice echoing, she barely holds her anxiousness back and readies to follow either Xugra or Arsena if they rush down the tunnel, exlaiming, "it's Janira, we need to help her!"
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Arsena relaxes once the last skeleton clatters to the ground. She nods at Xurga’s request and retrieves the wand they found in Janira’s bag. ”Thanks for the offer, Durvak, but I think I got this one. Besides, it's not as often that I get to do magic. It's good to practice.”
Touching the wand to Xurga’s wound, she concentrates and lets the magic knit the flesh back together. ”You know,” she says to Xurga once she's satisfied with the healing, ”Janira was right that you're more than just a sword arm. That said, I am glad that you're good with that sword.” She grins. ”Just try not to get hit so much from now on. Did you take that potion we found for you, yet?" Her tone is lightly scolding, approaching motherly. "Janira’s instructions on the label said it lasts a half hour. That should be plenty of extra toughness for ya, right?”
Arsena helps gather things up as the others search. She flips through the necromancer’s journal and shakes her head sadly before tossing it in her pack. She then slings the quiver of magical arrows over her shoulder when Xurga moves the bookcase and Janira’s voice comes floating in from a distance. She nods at Kaya. ”Reckon you're right about that. Let's get a move on through those tunnels ‘fore it's too late.”
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"Thank you both." Xugra says, watching the bleeding stop after Arsena uses the wand on him, blushing a little as she compliments his battle prowess. With the tunnel revealed and Janira's voice heard on the other side, Xugra drinks his barkskin potion and rushes into the cave without a second thought.
"She's fighting something, she might need our help!"
The light of the surface world above provides a welcome reprieve from the blue and green fungus of the caverns below, and light illuminates a stream whose water is hastened by runoff from a recent storm further up the mountains. A ledge to the west rises up to the nearby forest canopy.
Through the underbrush and young trees, you make out a minotaur battling a small figure in the shadowed moonlight. The figure shouts with Janira's voice, "You vile beast! I know not what drives your black heart, but I shall not fail in my duty. I shall see you driven from this forest, back to the hills from whence you came!”
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Combat! Bold may act. Round 1
Inspire Courage is in effect +1 to Hit and Damage
Janira
Xugra (barkskin)
Arsena
Kaya
Minotaur (disarmed)
Theodic (mage armor)
Durvak
Janira steps away from the horned giant and lashes out with her whip. The leather curls around the broken axe's haft like a constrictor and then, with a sharp yank, Janira pulls the weapon out of the minotaur's grip.
"Ha!" Janira exclaims.
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”Janira!” Arsena shouts as she emerges into the moonlight and sees the scene below. Her heart swells with hope as she sees Janira rip the massive axe from the minotaur’s hands, but it wouldn’t be enough just yet. She drops her glaive and draws her bow as she rushes down the hill. She skids to a stop where the dirt yields to grass, nocks one of the magical arrows and sends it flying toward the horned beast.
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