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Auntie Stagg examines everything very carefully. She knows:
(1) The black-scaled, reptilian humanoids with morningstars and heavy wooden shields are lizardfolk. Their black eyes and skin, and the small, odd mutations on their bodies, mark them as a wholly different species of lizardfolk from those normally found throughout Golarion.
(2) The surviving Razmiri cultists fled quickly to the east at the conclusion of the battle while the lizardfolk survivors turned west toward the Lingerlost Swamp.
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Suddenly, hisses and shrieks suddenly pierce the air as a group of black-scaled, reptillian humanoids burst from the nearby trees, waving morningstars and javelins. And you Pathfinders are standing over the bodies of other lizardfolk... It's on!
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Quartz was the only one to have thought to roll a perception check AND get a result high enough to hear them a moment before they arrived. He can act in the surprise round.
The grenadier is up!
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Quartz uses his wand on himself.
, miss!
, miss!
, miss!
,
Three of the lizardfolk throw javelins at the party and miss wildly. The fourth is larger and meaner-looking than the others. He seems to have a particular dislike for Auntie Stagg and Harrow. His javelin hits the cavalier in the shoulder. Though Harrow feels no pain, he takes 9 HP of damage, nonetheless.
They yell.
You also know from experience that, if you get within a certain distance from these creatures, you will have to make saving throws against their auras. They're like the troll and the wolves; they have the same template.
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The party is up!
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Quartz can tell that these lizardfolk are furious at the intrusion into their territory and for the slaying of their kin. It's likely that you won't be able to talk them down--especially not in the heat of battle! Though, if you were to incapacitate them, you might be able to find out more info regarding the Razmirans.
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Mareq will cast Detect Thoughts and listen to the thoughts of the leader. Using what he knows he will astound them by knowing their inmost thoughts, explaining to them that the lizard man God has granted their secrets to him test their truthfulness. If they do not tell all and aid the party, they will be killed to explain to their God why they attacked and disobeyed his appointed prophet, Mareq of the Great Scaly Tribe!
All this will be done after they've been effectively subdued.
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Rolling dice to get things moving along
The party outright kills three of the lizardfolk. (They only have 11 HP.)
The leader, though, survives. He informs you that they are the Whisperscale tribe. He reveals that his hunting party laid an ambush for the masked men and killed many of their number, though the Whisperscales lost dozens of their own in the glorious battle. Despite the heavy death toll, the lizardfolk are proud they defended their territory and drove away the masked men. You (the party) have violated the Whisperscales' territory and the lizardfolk will stop at nothing to "punish" you for that transgression.
You'll eventually either have to kill them all or leave the island. They'll just keep on coming.
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The battlefield is awash in dropped or tossed-aside gear. A full search of the battlefield finds seven suits of studded leather armor, two suits of +1 studded leather, nine light wooden shields, 12 daggers, a light crossbow with 12 bolts, two masterwork rapiers, nine saps, seven short swords, three potions of cure light wounds, a potion of cure moderate wounds, three iron Razmiri masks, two smokesticks, two sunrods, a set of thieves tools, and 150 gp.
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Berosius lets the more martial of his brethren tie up the survivors, then casts enhanced diplomacy and tongues on himself. Then he speaks to the captives.
"We do not want to fight you or your noble warriors. We wish only to stop the men in the masks. You see that we are strong in war, but we only wish to travel through your lands. What is the price of peace with your people?"
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The party successfully avoids more random encounters, native lizardfolk warriors, wind storms, and negative energy lightning strikes. Though there are moments when bolts blast trees nearby, reducing them to ash, and dozens of crackling, black bolts split the sky open.
With Dusan's guidance you find:
The entrance to The City of Golden Death stands ahead--two enormous stone doors, each thirty feet high and fifteen feet wide, covered in carved, vertical wavy lines. The left-hand door stands open, a complex internal mechanism of worked stone and metal clockwork gears visible along the door's side about halfway up. The doors are recessed about ten feet into the side of a large, grass-covered hill and tilt slightly inward. A firepit smolders beside the right-hand door, tiny tendrils of smoke still curling skyward from its coals.
A smoldering firepit and two graves mark the final camp where the Razmiri cultists rested before entering the city.
Survival check to know more.
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Harrow takes a careful look at the camp sight and scowls at the smoke.
"Not long since they here. Harrow not like pretending be Raisin cult...not like it at all! Harrow already do it and find they don't feed good food and make Harrow hurt other peeples. Harrow not like Raisin-guys at all, but one good thing happen from Raisin cult and Harrow join Ragathiel. Harrow count cult as enemy."
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Harrow can tell that a large number of the original Razmiran party (dozens of footprints at the area where the boat dropped you off) has been killed. Either by the island or the lizardfolk. About a dozen or so remain.
Even if you have their masks and robes, there are so few left that it would take an epically amazing check to successfully disguise yourself.
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, 1gg
, 1lfe
Fortunately, the Razmiran party has already opened the gates. So, getting in isn't a problem. Once you enter the gates of Xin-Grafar, you must descend hundreds of feet into the earth through smooth, winding tunnels. After a thousand feet of underground switchbacks, you reach the city itself, situated inside a vast underground cavern.
Here is a map of Xin-Grafar (a.k.a. The City of Golden Death). The party is coming in at area A at the bottom of the map.
Xin-Grafar has three concentric, circular walls, known as the First Ring, Second Ring, and Third Ring, each smaller and higher than the last. Each ring is separated from the others by 50-foot-thick walls of bedrock that stretch from floor to ceiling.
Unless otherwise mentioned, the entire city is lit with dim light from flickering, greenish phosphorescence on the cavern ceiling and from the glowing canals that surround the First Ring and flow down and through the Second and Third rings. Xin-Grafar is ringed and penetrated by broad canals of flowing molten gold, 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep.
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Presuming that you press onward...
Room A: The long, sloped tunnel leading down to the city suddenly opens into a large rectangular room. The floor here is sand and shows signs of recent foot traffic. The walls are all painted in enormous murals that depict a city in its prime.
The south wall shows hundreds of men and women in a marketplace, trading everything from fruit and livestock to construction materials such as brick and wood.
The north wall depicts row upon row of unarmed, uniformed men standing large in the foreground and growing smaller as their ranks disappear over the horizon toward the far right of the painting—a horizon over which an enormous golden sun rises.
The east wall is a huge map that portrays a city constructed of three concentric circles and divided by canals of pure, crystal-clear water that flows from the city’s innermost ring. Below this map someone has scrawled numerous notes and mathematical calculations in charcoal.
Finally, the west wall depicts a leader of some sort, crowned by a golden sun and speaking before a huge crowd of people wearing white shawls and golden togas.
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Harrow scowls as they move through the city.
"Harrow not know city underground...suprise, Harrow! Also, Harrow wondering why water look clear in picture, but now is green. And is this Raisin-guy, big leader with the sun?"
Not seeing anything else, and certainly not understanding the charcoal mathematical calculations, Harrow urges they press on.