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Arin is getting the hint from Brock that this was all more illusion than not, but his mind currently doesn't want to see past it. He holds his crossbow ready in case Wulessa's guards choose to avenge her.
"I wonder, did the guards even know that the local society lodge had been infiltrated? We'll either have to fight through more of the others here or explain the situation. My gut tells me it's probably the latter.."
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Yaiho winces from the attack on his back. As he feels his strength slowly being sapped away, he flexes his back muscles, letting a burst of adrenaline overcome whatever poison was in the hag's claws.
As he turns to deliver his own blow against the hag, he sees his companions have finished her off already. "Hidden enemies annoying."
Hearing Arin say we might have to fight through more, Yaiho smiles. Upset he didn't get revenge on hag but more than willing to use next enemy as punching bag.
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"I'll admit, I am not very learned in these matters. Well, not at all, really." He turns to Arin. "But perhaps we are not actually in the lodge. That wind made me suspicious, but now, if Brock is correct, that Hag was an illusion. Maybe we are indeed in the scrolls." He turns to Yaiho in disappointment. "If we are, I'm disappointed. I wanted to be the same height."
He goes to the window and looks outside. "Looks real enough. This heat feels real enough. Perhaps we should touch the scrolls? Usually that tends to make magic stuff do cool magic stuff."
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"Normally before we poke the ridiculously powerful artifact I would ask the expert, but that's Danicka and I recall her jumping in that skyship thing AND getting the mysterious bracelet stuck on her wrist... So, what the hell, poke the papers."
Brock states while aiming his musket in the general direction of the papers, "or, someone else poke them, I'm not touching them. Ill just shoot whatever comes out."
With a sidelong glance at the spot where the hag thing died, he mutters "that had better be an illusion, I'm getting paid for this one way or another even if I have to rob the lodge."
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Rook notices the shadow dissapating and pulls his arm back before releasing the bomb.
---
"This isn't right. I prefer Orcish spells...they are obvious in what has happened unlike this ritual. I do not vote for sitting still for more shadows to come after us, though."
He downs an extract of Heigtened Awareness and his Dexterity Mutagen.
If this spell is active when you have to make an initiative check, you can instantly dismiss this spell and gain a +4 bonus on that check.
---
+2 AC/+4 Dex/-2 Wis for 10 minutes.
Poking the scroll doesn't seem to have any effect, yet that does not mean it isn't interesting in its own right. Although it looks blank to Forrest, Yaiho, and Brock, the more magically inclined among you notice that it is, for want of a better word, in flux. Depending on who inspects it, it seems to contain different spell...
While they are inspecting the scroll, Forrest looks out the window, feeling the suspiciously strong breeze ruffle his fiery mutton chops, as he starts to question reality. That's when it hits him: those windows were closed when you sat down to start the ritual! Then he starts to notice other weird things about the room, the door looks more like it's painted to the wall rather than being a real door, and some of the furniture that had previously been pushed to the side of the room are simply not there anymore. Before he can explain the strange discontinuities, things get even stranger.
The stone walls of Farseer Tower melt away, replaced by warm blonde wooden wall panelling and a plush, lemon yellow carpet. A canopied bed sits between two windows, through which the spires of a grand city are visible. A small army of dolls is pushed over to a corner, its slumping forms indicating some level of neglect. Instead, the preferred playthings in this child's room seem to be books. A row of titles line a shelf on one wall, and several opened ones lie on the bed. Opposite the bed are a closed door and an elaborate vanity table. A mirror on the vanity reflects some motion not apparent in the room itself.
The figure in the mirror is Wulessa Yuul, she looks much better than the twisted illusionary hag version of her you just killed, but she also looks very worried, "You're here!" She exclaims as she sees you looking at her, "I thought, with how things had gone wrong, that perhaps you weren't trapped in here as well. I... am sorry. I think I erred in my assumptions."
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Danicka lets out a shriek as her attack strikes down the hag.
Oh, no! I killed her!
She's a HAG! She had to die. It's okay... It's okay... Can't redeem a hag...
Can I?
At Brocks words, Danicka blushes and casts a spell. Then she looks around the room, aiming her hand this way and that, curious what's going on.
---
As the others poke at the scroll, Danicka follows them. "How fascinating!" she squeaks. She reaches out and takes the scroll, causing it to function like a pearl of power. "This is... amazing."
Then, turning to look around the room, she pales. "And worrying...."
As the room changes, Danicka shrieks. Then, seeing Wulessa in the mirror, she shrieks again!
"Eeeeeeek!"
Wulessa looks just as she did before the ritual started, only less excited and more concerned looking, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..." She looks around at her mirror prison, "I fear the ritual has gone very wrong! We are in a mental landscape, as I had thought, yet it seems to be patterned off of my mind."
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Forrest starts practicing some Diaphramic breathing as he gets more and more anxious. Just like dance school. Calm those nerves. Everything will be fine. After a few moments of deep breathing he speaks to the figure in the mirror. "I'm hesitant to trust you, since this landscape just tried to kill us with an illusion of you. But here we are. What do you remember about this artifact? How do we escape your mindscape?" He stares into the mirror fervently, desperate for an answer.
Mindscapes are temporary mental constructs formed on the Astral plane from the interaction of multiple minds. You appear to be in what is called an immersive mindscape, meaning the interior is indistinguishable from reality (which explains why you didn't know you were in one until the room faded around you.) While within a mindscape, your physical bodies can take no actions, and your senses are limited to your experiences within the mindscape. You are unaware of your physical surroundings outside, and cannot defend yourselves if your bodies are attacked. Damage (or healing) taken within the mindscape transfers over to your physical forms.
"That is... Disturbing." Wulessa says in response to Forrest's news of an illusionary version of her, "You can trust me, but the Monadistic Archive must have defences in place. If your mental forms are damaged... I am honestly uncertain what that means for your physical forms. It may be injuries carry across." She's silent for a moment, eyes unfocused and looking deep in thought, "I can feel the days of my life being transcribed. Pulled from my body and stored here. I don't know if there will be anything left of me when it is done. I can't even move around. I'm simply trapped inside my own memories." She says quietly.
She snaps out of it, suddenly focusing on you once more, all business, "Right, yes, stopping the ritual and getting out! I can feel an entity overseeing the transcription. This... archivist, for lack of a proper name, should logically have a presence inside this mindscape, at least during this process. You may be able to find the archivist and challenge or persuade it to stop. Hopefully that would release us all."
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"It can..." Danicka whispers. Realizing no one can hear her, she blushes brightly and speaks louder: "IT CAN!"
Too loud!
Danicka shrinks in on herself and explains in a normal voice: "Damage and healing we sustain within a mindscape transfers over to our physical forms. In addition, our bodies are helpless back in Katapesh." Danicka shakes her head. "This is not good."
"The archivist is entering you into the archive... Fascinating. And... horrible. We... We h-h-have to st-st-stop him!" Danick stutters in fear.
Danicka moves over to the door and hesitates. She clutches her broom tightly in her hands and takes a a few frantic, panicked breaths.
I can do this! I CAN do this!
Be brave!
Prickles looks around warily, on edge from the shifting scenery and odd smells around him.
He follows his pet across the room, growling menacingly at everyone she passes by, as well as the dolls and mirror--just in case!
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Yaiho moves to the door and when it doesn't open, he puts his back into it and tries to force the door open. With no success, he moves to the window and tries that. But with no success again, he spits into his hands and grasp his earthbreaker, following with a mighty swing into the window. With no success again.
Yaiho frowns. "Yaiho no like place. Place doesn't know when to break."
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Brock glares around the room as even the mighty Yaiho fails to force their way out of the room. Unfamiliar with magical crap and not terribly smart on the best of days, Brock finds himself completely out of his element with not a single thing to kill, con or steal.
Not that he'd ever admit his failings to anyone.
"Can we, uh, go through the magic mirror? Or something"
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After laughing at Yaiho's failed attempts go break out, Forrest grows quiet. The gravity of the situation sets in. We're stuck in an inept venture captain's mind as she is slowly sucked into the scrolls forever... This is a little worse than raiding an impenetrable caravan. After Brock's suggestion, he takes a step towards the mirror. "That might be the stupidest thing I've heard today. But... you might be right. " With that, he double checks that his rapiers are firmly attached to his waist and moves up to the mirror. With a final look at his companions, he touches the glass.
Wulessa goes a bit cross eyed as she watches Forrest's finger inch closer and closer. He taps the glass and waits... Nothing, "Blast!" The venture-captain in the mirror exclaims in frustration, "It was worth a try..." She says, calming herself down as she listens to theories, "Let's leave breaking the mirror as a last resort, shall we? I'm not sure what would happen to me if you were to do that, and... Well, I'd rather not find out if possible. However, If the door and windows won't open, I'm unsure how to proceed."
Arin looks around the room, scanning the windows and mirrors for any possible clues, but comes up empty. The room seems very real, despite knowing that it is all in their minds, and is a perfectly normal bedroom for a young girl: the pink sheets on the bed, the large pile of, admittedly neglected, dolls, and a plethora of colourful books on the bed and shelves. Wulessa looks pensive as you all search the room for a way out, and finally says, "This is my childhood bedroom in Quantium. I would lie in bed, reading adventure stories of brave explorers and warriors. Childish treacle, but still... I think that was what sparked my ambitions to be a Pathfinder." Several of the books in question are laying on her childhood bed, each showing cute pictures on the cover, the titles printed in big cheerful lettering: 'Pathfinder Chronicle Volume 27: The collected notes of famed Pathfinder Durvin Gest,' 'Risen - A treatise on the Ethics and Morality of Necromancy,' and 'On Government - a denunciation of the new Chelish government by Darl Jubannich.'
"Wait a minute..." Wulessa says, suddenly realising something, "You said you fought some kind of illusion of me right? Well, that must mean you were somewhere else in the mindscape before your appeared here. What did you do to get here from there?"
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"Well, we killed something. But I don't see anything around here to kill." Brock growls as he looks about the room, poking the stuffed animals with his musket barrel.
Hating feeling so useless amongst all this magic mumbo jumbo he continues growling under his breath.
"Of course it's some magical trap full of riddles and mysteries. Why couldn't it have just been a robbery, or bar fight, or different use for that bed there, I'm good at those tasks, but no, they have to get me stuck in some thing that we need to think our way out of." he looks T the magic mirror with a thoughtful look on his face, moments from seeing what shooting the mirror would do.
Make me feel a little better at least
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Forrest frowns. Forrest thinks. It hurts a little. "I looked out the window... and we started noticing mistakes. We started seeing flaws in the design... " He looks over at Danicka and Rook. "You guys read a lot, right? Books are pretty complicated, at least the few I've seen. " He goes over and picks up the most thickly bound book there and starts reading. Better not read out loud, might mispronounce a word.
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Danicka looks around with wide, panicking eyes.
Think! Think! How do you travel in a mindscape?
Danicka closes her eyes and focuses really hard, attempting to force the mindscape to bend to her will.
Take me to the archivist! THE ARCHIVIST!
Danicka looks around the room and tries to find an object that might function as a key or gateway to the next location. Deciding that books are a good start, she picks up the Pathfinder Chronicle on the bed and flips through it.
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"Maybe I'm too focused on the objects in the room as magical items. Perhaps we need to play out actions similar to what might have happened in this room? Such as going to sleep on that bed and seeing if our dreams take us to a desired or different location."
Arin walks over to the bed, pushes the books down to the foot of it and then crawls under the covers. He then becomes a bit self-conscious at what a little gnome in a human girl's bed looks like... "I'm guessing you'd all take snarling abyssal over this."
After a few moments...
"Hmm... it doesn't feel like anything is happening."
"Flaws in the design..." Wulessa says, sounding like she's deep in thought, "Yes, that sounds plausible. Knowing that this all this isn't real is one thing, but to truly disbelieve what you see takes some effort. Perhaps if you concentrate on these flaws in the design, as you call them, it would make it easier for your mind to see the room for what it actually is: a very elaborate illus-" She stops mid-sentence, looking at Arin with a confused frown, too engrossed in her own theories to hear the reason for his strange behaviour, "This is no time for a nap. When the archive is finished... emptying me, you might be released into your bodies. But you might also be trapped here, I think you should work on the assumption you will be trapped, and hurry in your search for an exit." She sighs, "I just wish there was some way I could assist you directly- Oh!" She exclaims, looking quite surprised and a little excited, "Quickly, check the draw in the vanity. There should be a potion in there, I just felt it manifesting. It seems I have some power here after all..."
Getting back to the problem at hand with renewed enthusiasm, Wulessa picks up on what Rook said about their contents, "They certainly physically resemble my childhood books, but I wasn't such a prodigy that I could have read and understood anything about necromancy. Those books should be filled with childish tales of brave knight saving princes from tall towers..." It quickly becomes apparent that these are definitely not the books the Wulessa Yuul had in her actual childhood bedroom.
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"Ya, why would a little girl need a book on some government? That doesn't make much sense... " Forrest continues to hold on to the book, and goes over to the drawer. Bout time this lady was some help. After opening it, he gingerly picks up the potion. "Huh. I mean, I did want to get bigger. But, perhaps we need someone REALLY big. Yaiho, what do you think? Want to drink it? "
Focusing on the book in his hand, Forrest is finally able to convince his brain that the room isn't real. The room shimmers and changes again. The shape remains the same, but the walls and floor resolve into a series of glass tiles that creates a checkerboard of luminescent blue and lightswallowing black. The door vanishes, revealing a passage filled with the same half-light. Opposite this, the room breaks away entirely. An entire wall is missing, leaving a jagged hole overlooking a void occupied by nothing more than deep purple mist, seemingly born out of and reabsorbed by the darkness. Somewhere in the depths, a tremendous crystalline shape flashes through the mist. The room is otherwise featureless, devoid of all angles. Even the floor has a slight curvature, melding smoothly into the walls.
Arin falls to the floor, the bed he had been laying in suddenly gone. As he makes his way back to his feet, the tiles start to shift. First the blue, luminescent tiles coalesce into one bright blue light overhead, leaving the rest of the room swallowed in darkness, then the glowing tiles shift again to form patterns: a giant eye looks at each of you in turn, followed by a large question mark.
The question mark lingers for a few moments longer as the echo of Danicka's shrieks fade away, then the tiles shift again, returning to the checkerboard pattern of before. No amount of talking to the walls bring the patterns back, and the only movement in the room is from the glass bricks that occasionally break off and drift away into the void behind you. However, should you feel like investigating, no amount of walking ever brings you closer to the edge, although the traveller seemingly recedes into the distance from the perspective of outside observers. The surreal optical illusion is enough to make the dizzy among you feel completely disoriented.
With only one obvious direction to go, you move forward, through the passage on the other side of the room. As the passage curves toward a set of doors, the glass tiles suddenly give way to worked stone. Behind, the structure remains uniform, as though the glowing glass hallway was never there. Backtracking only reveals that the stone corridor dead ends some fifty feet back. Again, it seems you have little choice which path to take and you head forward through the doors.
The doors open onto a balcony overlooking a wide chamber. A winged statue formed out of the stone wall looms ominously from across the room. Catwalks wind around the edges and across the room, leading to a primitive altar in front of the statue. Above and below the suspended middle level of the room, gratings in the floor and ceiling produce a constant upward-moving breeze. While the statue seems crafted to represent a male human-avian hybrid, its face is unmistakably that of Wulessa Yuul. Her face curious as she looks around the room.
"I remember this. It was my first expedition after joining the Pathfinder Society. We discovered a lost shrine to—I will not speak his name—The King of Wind Demons. We sought a golden icon hidden in the altar. The way down was easier than expected. There were traps, but we bypassed them. The way to the shrine was hidden, but we found the trigger to open it. And then... there were guardians. Here." She suddenly looks alarmed, "Two of us died. They came from the air itself. I think you are in danger! Here, take this; it may aid you against the dangers here." As Wulessa warns you, a rope falls from the ceiling, landing at your feet. At the same time, the sound of wind pouring from the vents below increases, and vapour starts pooling below.
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Brock stays silent through the weirdness of shifting rooms and a strange journey through the memories of the pathfinder, upon hearing about the air demons or whatever he simply growls in irritation, taking his turn down the rope and setting up in the rear of the room, ready to try to shoot the inevitable monster that pops out in this nightmare landscape.
Having had enough of this nonsense, and feeling a little sick from the shifting terrain, Prickles barks madly and ferociously at his surroundings.