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Ouncius is caught by the Monkey King's spell and is temporarily halted.
That does not assure the Monkey King very much as she sees herself surrounded. Knowing that it is hopeless, she still does not give up. Disregarding the performance altogether, she squeezes herself against the wall, away from your threatening weapons. Again she attempts her spell, this time defensively, but with all the Pathfinders looming over her, she stumbles over her words and the spell fizzles out.
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Azhagoth attempts to strike at the Monkey King but his spear bounces off some magical protection arond here. Naomi, however, who has been biding her time throughout the performance thus far, finds an opening as she dashes in between Azhagoth and Quan Tai. With a precise quick punch to her foe, she knocks the final Aspis agent unconscious.
Kiang Zhen laughs out uproariously, applauding the fine martial performance.
***Overseer post***
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The curtains descend as Kiang Zhen the oni continues her gleeful laughter at seeing the Aspis agents decimated, even if non-lethally.
A voice booms out, "The real Monkey King and his gathered allies utterly defeats the illusory summons of the White Snake Spirit. She, seeing the power of the party, grabs Tripitika and flees to her ally, the White Bone Spirit for help, promising her a portion of the monk's flesh in return for her aid. The Monkey King and his friends give chase across the Cloudy Mountains..."
Once curtain fully descends, the Tengu emissary beckons the party backstage, with the aasimar crew ready to assist you changing out of your costume.
"Time for your costume change," she caws as she hands over a
stack of black funerary robes. "Once you get suited up, throw these over your clothes; you’ll need them to enter the next event. Then head to the Petal District. You’ll know the way once you get there."
She then turns to leave before you get the chance to ask any questions.
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Bishop eyes the black robes. "Let us hope these are not some portent for things to come. Let's hurry to the Petal District. These robes are likely to give us a rash." Bishop throws the robes on mindful to stash away his own outerwear in his pack. Dressed and ready he waits patiently for everyone else.
A crowd of black-robed mourners gathers in a small, grassy square near the edge of the cemetery. The assembly forms a procession, which winds through the cemetery to one of the oldest and most opulent plots. There, the entrances to an entire row of aging marble mausoleums stand open. Before each rests a coffin.
The procession stops, and a woman in the robes of a Pharasmin cleric steps forward. She approaches the various groups of mourners and, speaking in a solemn tone, requests each of them to hoist a casket and carry it into one of the mausoleums. Then she adds the following instructions: “This next competition is the final one of the qualifier. The Emissary lies somewhere in the catacombs below. All you must do now is seek him out and touch his robes. Good luck.” Then the woman nods and leaves, without further explanation.
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The six Pathfinders gather round the indicated casket and lift it together as pallbearers. You carry it towards the specified mausoleum and down a flight of stairs. The stairs empty into a long hall of cool gray stone. On both sides of the smooth, polished walls open deep, narrow arches that recede into straight, dark hallways.
A gold-skinned humanoid sits in a trancelike state in the middle of the room like a great silent statue. Across his lap is a massive spiked club. Behind the creature, on the far side of the hall, a small brass gong hangs still upon a lacquered wooden frame. Beside the gong rests a large mallet, its beater wrapped in cloth.
Shortly after you enter and lay down the casket, he opens his eyes and speaks. "Greetings, esteemed competitors. Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Heng — the Sifu’s Judge. Within this room you see eight arches; however, only one leads to the final competition. While I can show you the correct path, you must first prove yourselves worthy before I reveal the answer."
The oni nods and without warning, all eight entrances erupt into impassible whirlwinds of lashing sword shards and colored smoke. Calmly, he continues.
"Beyond me hangs a small gong. In order to pass freely, you must properly sound the gong using the nearby mallet. While this task sounds easy, I assure you it is not, for it must be struck perfectly in order to get it to sound. Hit it too softly and it will fail to echo, too hard and it will crack. Furthermore, I shall do my best to prevent anyone from sounding it."
The judge bows, his heavy gaze relentless. Then slowly his body coils into a combat stance as he signals the start of the fight with a simple nod.
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"I have an idea, Azhagoth and Bishop go round the left, Ouncius and Lox go right. Each pair will have one who tries to sound the gong, while the other stands between their partner and the guardian. Don't bother attacking, just focus on parrying blows. Tai, move up slowly, we'll take center." As Naomi says this she moves behind Tai.
Ready action to move with Tai, assuming he follows the plan.
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Azhagoth sighs with relief as he changes back into his usual protective garb and takes up his own weapon again. As he straps the great sword across his back, he smiles slightly, recalling that he and his comrades had defeated the Gorumite cleric a second time. You have carried me to victory thus far, my Lord in Iron. Help me to fight well as we near the end of these trials.
Dressed in the funerary robes, Azhagoth looks even more severe than usual. He steps forward with purpose as the Pharasmin priestess asks them to bear the casket into the mausoleum. He carries the casket smoothly and calmly, as if he has borne the dead many times before.
When the group finally arrives in the mausoleum and receives their challenge from the oni, Azhagoth leads the others in carefully laying the casket on the floor before drawing his sword, along with a short length of thorny vine from a pocket in his robes. He squeezes the vine as he mutters a prayer to Gorum, and blood begins to drip from his palm as the thorns pierce his flesh. His eyes suddenly flash with red light, and Azhagoth's face contorts with fury. "You will fall, demon," he yells, brandishing his blade.
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"There is but one mallet, Naomi. Do you expect Az to ring the gong with his sword? One of us should sound the gong while the others occupy this judge."
Quan Tai advances, positioning himself between the oni and the gong.
"I have no training with the gong, but I've watched the monks sound the hour often enough to attempt it. Can anyone do better?"
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Naomi gets ready to move when Quan Tai does, while Azhagoth draws his blade and summons his god's divine wrath onto himself. Bishop similarly gets ready to follow behind Azhagoth. Ouncius simply moves up and attacks the oni. The oni easily dodges the katana, but unwittingly steps into the path of Ouncius' smaller blade, which punches right through his chest.
As Ouncius withdraws the blade, the oni simply grins at him and you see the wound visibly closing before your eyes! He reaches out with both his claws and rips into Ouncius, tearing through his armor like they are paper, leaving deep gashes across Ouncius's chest. He then steps back, and laughs maniacally.
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Bishop watches as his half-orc bodyguard moves up and brings down his great sword with a devastating blow taking his queue he rushes for the gong noticing that Lox has already gone on ahead past the guardian.
Seeing this he splits up from his green skinned bodyguard and positions himself opposite of the orc to flank the guardian and stabs with his dagger.
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Azhagoth moves in towards the oni to strike, but not taking into account his quick reflexes, he moves too far, creating an opening. The oni reaches out again with his claw, but this time, they do not get through his armor.
Azhagoth's strike, however, is true, cleaving deep into the side of Judge Heng, and greenish blood ooze copiuosly from the wound. The oni stares at Azhagoth in shock. To add insult to injury, Bishop also steps up and with the flank provided by the half-orc, stabs the oni on the other side.
Judge Heng suddenly turns solemn and straightens up. "You have bested me in combat, something I would not have expected from a team of novice competitors like you. The path forward is now clear for you."
He gives each of you a deep bow and with a flourish of his hands, the whirling winds and lightning at each passage disappear. With the obscurement gone, you clearly see seven of the passages are merely alcoves, but the third passage extends further ahead.
Judge Heng bows again and gestures towards the passage. "You may proceed. Time is short."
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The tunnel continues straight ahead, and you progress in a single file. Approximately 150 feet in, the tunnel suddenly slopes down quite dramatically for about 40 feet. The tunnel walls and ceiling are featureless and you cannot find any handholds nor is there anything you can secure a rope to. Nonetheless, it is not a complete drop-off and it does not look too challenging.
Just as Ouncius gets ready to descend, Quan Tai and Naomi suddenly calls out a warning. You look closer and you realised the drop-off is greased! Such a simple trap, but effectively in making the climb more difficult than it would normally have been.
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As the judge clears the obstacle before them and permits them to proceed, Azhagoth is barely able, with the help of his comrades, to subdue the divine wrath coursing through him. Every fiber of his being wanted to continue the battle with the Judge, but he knew that he had done well in the fight and did not have to kill the oni to prove his mettle further.
When his wrath finally wears off, he turns to Ouncius, who has already consumed numerous potions, but still bears a few wounds from the demon's otherworldly claws. "My brother," he says to the fellow orc-blooded warrior, "Don't waste any more of your valuable potions. I have a wand here that can help heal the last of your wounds. Here." He draws the wand and waves the tip over the last of Ouncius's wounds.
With that done, he turns to their newest challenge. [b]"I have some rope,"[b] Azhagoth replies to Ouncius's question. He removes his pack and roots around in it for a moment before withdrawing a carefully coiled length of rope. He approaches the edge of the slope and looks around him for anything they might be able to use as an anchoring point for the rope, so they can all simply climb down.
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Bishop takes off the funery robes provided earlier wetting them enough that he can lather soap into the material. He then goes about cleaning a section of the greased floor pushing the grease to the side.
"Quickly give some more robes." Taking the robes he then dams up the cleaned section of the floor to ensure no grease spills over.
Still having a single robe in his hand he calls for "Rope. Now please lower me so that I can check the rest of the way."
Lighting a torch and securing the rope around his waist he proceeds down the ramp cautiously looking for traps.
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Sounds of combat drift in from other sections of the complex, both around you and further down the tunnel, filling you with a sense of urgency. Nonetheless, the party focuses its attention on Bishop, holding tight to the rope attached to Bishop as he carefully descends the sloping section of the tunnel. He realises that the grease covers the entire 40-foot stretch of the descending slope. With his keen understanding of traps, Bishop makes use of Quan Tai's soap to clear away the greasefrom strategic spots to facilitate the rest of the party's descent later.
While doing so, he carefully looks around to spot other traps that might have been laid. Unfortunately, near the end of the tunnel, he does not see a magical glyph that is hidden under a patch of grease. It suddenly burst forth a cloud of bright yellow glittering dust. Bishop is caught completely by surprise as the spray of glitter blasts directly into his eyes, blinding him!
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Turning to Naomi, Azhagoth tilts his head quizzically. "Ignored the objective? What are you talking about, Girl? I drew the beast's aggression so that Lox or Bishop could sound the gong. Anyway, what does it matter now? We have passed that trial. We should move on to the next one instead of focusing on the past. Come. Bishop has gotten himself into some trouble." Azhagoth descends the slope after Ouncius, trying to be careful as he climbs down, but not lingering too long in case he is able to help Bishop recover from this blindness he is experiencing.
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"You attacked him. That was completely unnecessary. You also fought like you were trying to kill him. That is why people got hurt. We could have done it without any of us getting hurt. You are just lucky the guardian was not more powerful. And it matters because it means in the future, I have to consider how easily the enemy can draw you away from the objective in upcoming rounds, leaving us exposed where you should be covering us rather than chasing down enemies. There was no need to strike at the guardian. All that was needed was to prevent the guardian from interfering with whomever rang the gong, and that could have been done without even drawing blood. Instead, you chose to cause needless pain to someone who doesn't deserve it, opponant or not, and got yourself and your teammates hurt needlessly. That is what a thug does, not a warrior.", nodding to Tai, "And Tai, I did not hesitate. I fell back behind you as part of a deception. I wanted him focused more on the other pairs so he wouldn't see what I was going to do. The guardian could have been far more powerful, in which case victory would not have been achievable via hurting it but only by ringing the gong, and I had no reason to believe the guardian would be so easy to impress, after all, he was chosen to face a group all by himself."
When all others climbed down, she double checked for anything dropped at the top, then grabbed the gong and used it to slide down the slope.
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The rest of the party descends the slope carefully. When they reach near the end, the deviousness yet simplicity of the trap becomes evident. The tunnel ends abruptly at a T junction. An uncontrolled slide down the sloped tunnel would have ended in a nasty smash up against the wall.
As you near where Bishop got hit by the burst of glitter, you search the tunnel more carefully, and notice the arcane glyph that Bishop had missed earlier is still present, pulsing ever so slightly and ominously.
By this time, Bishop manages to slide down the last few feet of the tunnel safely despite being blinded. By then, the blinding spots in Bishop's eyes gradually clear and he finds he is able to see again.
Bishop finds himself in a crescent-shaped hallway. The northern face is smooth and curves away in both directions. It is faint but Bishop seems to hear faint sounds of combat on the other side of this wall and, strangely enough, sounds of crackling fire, whirling winds and sloshing water.
On the southern face of the hallway, a number of archways branch out, presumably similar to the one that you had just descended from. As if to confirm, a group of humanoids tumbles down one of the archways and slammed against the opposite wall, accompanied by a bright flash of light. They pick themselves up quite painfully, while one or two blink desperately to clear their eyes. Bishop recognises them as fellow Pathfinders and competitors in this competition. Those unaffected by the blinding trap nod at Bishop in acknowledgement. After administering to their wounds and afflictions, they continue down the hallway, disappearing from Bishop's view.