Gwendallyn focuses her mind to enhance her combat abilities, and cautiously advances down the slippery tunnel towards the glowing rock chamber.
Meanwhile, the hulking zombie creature shambles forward toward the tight tunnels; but slowly and with its massive clawed arms outstretched, so as to build that classic horror movie tension.
Initiative Order:
Round 1:
Gwendallyn
GR Zombie
Locke
Tereze
Tetsudo
Fiona
Fel Bustrani
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Looking around at the cramped tunnel carved through the bedrock that is now completely filled by her large friend, Tereze wonders aloud.
It seems a little crowed in zere, don't you agree your Lordship? She smiles at the envoy.
Ze good thing is ze Pathfinders teach us to be resourceful. For example, I know how to make ze ground itself attack.
Tetsudo's lance pierces the massive zombie's hide, though it does not appear to do as much damage as one would expect! As a small puddle of zombie ichor leaks from the creature's mottled skin, a coruscating ripple in the air behind it on the dais shimmers in the air; peeling away to reveal the source of the voice earlier, a cultist clad in full-plate wielding a wickedly sharp heavy pick. He brandishes a holy symbol of Zyphus with a shout, causing a rippling wave of ominous purple energy to radiate out from him in a 30-foot radius!
Initiative Order:
Round 2:
Gwendallyn (DC 22 Will Save; Enlarged, Warded (+2))
GR Zombie (-7)
Locke
Tereze
Tetsudo (DC 22 Will Save for both)
Fiona
Fel Bustrani
Gwendallyn also fails to overcome the brunt of the negative energy pulsing down the tunnel. To vent her frustrations about this, she proceeds to reach with her now massive large-sized arms down the pathway and engage the zombie in a headlock. The creature struggles sluggishly in her grasp, and Gwendallyn proceeds to slam the creature to the ground and lock its limbs painfully behind it at what appears to be an excruciating angle. The zombie struggles, unable to break free as it still appears to be building momentum in the fight.
Initiative Order:
Round 2:
Gwendallyn (Enlarged, Grappling, -19)
GR Zombie (-7, Grappled, Pinned)
Locke
Tereze
Tetsudo/Roshi (Both -19)
Fiona
Fel Bustrani
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Tereze finishes her summoning spell and 4 humanoids rise up from the earth.
She grimaces as she feels her life flow out of her into her companions to counter the filth of unlife that they absorbed.
But even through her pain she points through the wall in front of her. The Elementals move through the wall and move into the room beyond the Dinosaur.
Then Tereze uses her divine blessing to heal herself.
AC 17, HP 17, 17, 17, 17, F: +6, R: -1, W:+3, Attack: slam +8 (1d6+7) +1 to Hit and Damage if both elemental and target are touching the ground.
Tetsudo and Roshi both land blows on the zombie creature, though Tetsudo's lance does not appear to do as much damage as expected. Meanwhile, finding himself surrounded by the elementals, the cultist raises his (un)holy symbol again and unleashes another wave of negative energy! Fiona attempts to hex the cleric, who wavers briefly on his feet and fights the curse off with the power of his unholy devotion!
Initiative Order:
Round 3:
Gwendallyn (Will DC 22, Enlarged, Grappling, -14)
GR Zombie (-17, Grappled, Pinned)
Locke
Tereze
Tetsudo/Roshi (Will DC 22, Both -14)
Fel Bustrani
Fiona (Will DC 22)
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Gwen gasps in pain as another wave of negative energy rushes over her and coughs violently as blood wells up from her chest. Keeping her amazingly tight grip upon the massive zombie, Gwen lets out a scream of fury as she digs her feet into the stone floor and begins shoving the zombie back into the chamber with the priest! "Testudo kill the priest! I'll handle this thing!"
As Gwendallyn shoves the massive zombie into the corner, the undead seems to draw some kind of profane strength from its proximity to the ominous glowing stone and surprises Gwendallyn by flipping control of the grapple! The shift of its attention provides Locke with an opening, and he proceeds to lob an explosive directly in the creature's face; the bomb exploding impressively as the blast artfully seems to avoid catching Gwendallyn and the nearby elemental.
Initiative Order:
Round 3:
Gwendallyn (Enlarged, Grappled, -27)
GR Zombie (-32, Grappling)
Locke
Tereze (All elementals -13)
Tetsudo/Roshi (Will DC 22, Both -14)
Fel Bustrani
Fiona (-13)
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Tereze pales and has to grasp tighter onto the Envoy's arm for support as she feels much of her life energy being drawn from her to counter the evil priest's Influence.
Two can play at zis game. she mutters grimly as she releases the envoy's arm and carfully moves forward before before calling down the blessing of the gods of good on all her friends.
Ladies of Sunlight, Honor and Fate.
Strengthen your servants arms so zey may stamp out ze corruption zat has caused so much death above!
As she finishes a golden glow seems to gently shine forth restoring the strength to her companions near her.
Meanwhile the elementals strike out at the Priest who just wounded them.
The elementals summoned by Tereze flail at the cultist with their slam attacks, but only one manages to slip by the cleric's defenses. That last hit however, seemed to give Testudo exactly the opening he was looking for as he valiantly charges into the chamber with his lance! His weapon pierces all the way through the cultist's chest, the force of the blow carrying the pair backwards to impale the cleric directly on the glowing green stone behind him. The cleric dies instantly upon impact, his heart skewered by the lance, and is also instantly zombified upon impalement on the stone. The new cleric zombie groans wordlessly as it flails about uselessly on the lance lodged into the stone in a cosmic-irony sort of way.
Initiative Order:
Round 3-4:
Gwendallyn (Enlarged, Grappled, -12)
GR Zombie (-32, Grappling)
Locke
Tereze (Elementals -3, Tereze -10)
Tetsudo/Roshi
Fel Zomboni (Lance-pinned)
Fiona
The large zombie seems to resist the effects of Fiona's curse as Gwendallyn struggles in its strong but clumsy grasp. Gwendallyn barely manages to slip from its massive claws, firmly grabs the monster's head, and delivers a solid thrust of her knee directly into its face. As ichor sprays briefly in all directions, the monster seems to not notice its leaking and proceeds to slash at her with one of its massive claws! The zombie rakes Gwendallyn with its sharp claws, and proceeds to use the momentum from its attack to grab her with a burst of surprising strength!
Meanwhile, Locke hawks an alchemically-enhanced loogie at the zombie; coating the creature in a goo that quickly hardens in a restricting fashion, leaving the zombie rather firmly glued to the stone floor!
Initiative Order:
Round 4:
Gwendallyn (Enlarged, Grappled, -25)
GR Zombie (-43, Grappling, Entangled/Glued until Round 6)
Locke
Tereze (Elementals -3, Tereze -10)
Tetsudo/Roshi
Fel Zomboni (Lance-pinned)
Fiona
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More life continues to be drawn from Tereze into Gwen over the link as she picks her way forward following in Testudo's wake..
The two elementals next to the zombies continue to strike at the zombies, while a third elemental steps up to get closer to the new human zombie.
The last elemental sinks into the floor trying to find a way to approach the zombies
The elementals swarm over the massive zombie, slamming large chunks of its flesh off of its decomposing body in all directions; dealing enough damage to cause the creature to collapse in a meaty heap on the floor!
Out of Initiative!
As the dust of the battle settles, the noble gives a round of applause after he regains his sense of aplomb. "Jolly good show! The magic, the valiant charge pinning that most dastardly villain! Almost better than the performance on stage, I do say!" After not following Tereze into battle, he makes up his lost gentleman points by escorting her fully into the chamber with the rest of the group as they decide their next course of action; just in time for Testudo's steed to deliver the coup de grace on the zombie cleric, spraying ichor all over him.
"Oh...pleasant," he utters as he flips out a very expensive looking handkerchief to mop up the stains. "That stone seems rather...evil...looking, doesn't it? Perhaps the cause of all...this?" he says with a vague gesture around him. "Valuable looking, certainly, but such things are below one such as myself..." the noble trails off with a look at the group; as if he is leaving the further decisions about the matter to the party.
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Tereze casts Detect Magic.
Well it does have a strong Necromatic aura, so zat would make sense. Fiona or Locke can you tell more specifically what zis does?
Tereze turns to the others.
In any case, I strongly suggest zat the Pathfinders take this item and store it in ze archive so zat zere is no chance something like zis happens to zese good people again.
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"Take it away?", disbelief and concern is clearly not hidden, "Bringing in something this powerful is, literally here, inviting death."
"If an old man suffers a stroke and dies with it nearby, this could happen again. I propose it to be demolished, and take just a fragment for further study. Nothing big enough to pose a threat."
Would detect magic be a hard requirement for the attempt?
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Testudo Chortles, and speaks in a more calm tone.
My dear Locke, I certainly understand your concern, but isn't that why we have those... ehem, splendid fellows down in the archives? I say we let our superiors decide such things, we are but agents are we not? However...
He hefts his lance and looks at the others.
I will defer to my superiors here in this as well. I am a knight, and at the end of the day, I am not a weaver of magic. If you tell me it is to dangerous to move, I will destroy it here and now.
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Do you know if destroying it will release ze magic in a big burst and re-raise all ze dead above? I would hate to have ze dead rise and move into zis noble city with us not zere to stop it.
We know nothing about ze item, it would be far better to study it and find a safe way to dispose of zis rather zen take ze chance here where zere has already been so much death.
Seven Hells, if you are worried about it, I'll carry it. If I put it in my magic pack, zat should keep ze people around us safe as we move zis to the archive so it can be disposed of.
Epilogue:
After some discussion regarding the fate of this glowing green stone, the nobleman proffers an alternative solution for situation. It turns out the nobleman, Magistros Sebastus Hustavan, is actually a very high-ranking official in Taldor; a direct consul for the city of Oppara to the Emperor Stavian III. He offers to pull some strings to gain the services of several Imperial mages to ward the artifact, making it safe for transportation to send to Absalom and the Grand Lodge. The group will note that the Consul does have concerns of magical explosions possibly damaging his city, and assisting you in this way is equivalent to removing hazardous magical waste from the country while putting the Society in a position of helping Taldor in future endeavors.
Emerging from the basement of the opera house, the party will notice that most of the threat the zombies posed have been eliminated. Searching the entire building, they will find a lone zombie stupidly locked in a supply closet; after making it re-dead, the group will realize the body belongs to Bodriggan Wuthers, the Pathfinder agent they were sent to locate. Searching his remains will find a copy of his final report about the findings beneath the opera house, including the odd activities of a "cleric of Irori" who had joined his expedition in excavating the basement of the building. The last entry in his logs end abruptly shortly after breaking through into the chamber with the glowing stone.
On the way out of the building, the group learns that the attack on the Golden Son wasn't quite as deadly as it may have seemed; thanks to the party's timely intervention, over half of the guests who attended the performance survived the zombie outbreak. The nobles and various servants who survived applaud the brave Pathfinders who ended the threat posed by the cultists, with the nobles now having an excellent story to tell at their various soirees planned later in the week. The Consul arranges for a reward to be granted to each agent that helped with the assault, as well as providing exquisite lodgings at a guest house in his manor estate in the Senate's Hill district while they await their transport back to Absalom to report their adventure.
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Testudo smiles as he heads out.
My Companions, Roshi is quite tired, and I feel he deserves some lettuce and a shell scrub. I will meet you for the caravan tomorrow.
With a click, the strange knight and his stranger steed ambles off to the guest house, where, if anyone checks on him....
Turtle Turtle Turtle Turtle Turtle...
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After the battle is ended and the stone removed, Gwen leans against a nearby building with her arms folded across her chest. ”So... all of this was because someone accidentally activated this stone?” She shakes her head. ”Where did it come from? Who put it here? What was it’s purpose? All those poor folks, dead. And all these ‘noble’ people can think about is how exciting a story it will make.” She scoffs.
”I need a cold drink and a hot bath. Who is with me? I have heard they at least do that right here.”
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Locke nods at Gwen's scoffing.
"Quite so."
"A cool drink? Sounds good.
Since i'll also celebrate us not having to suffer that man's haughty attitude any longer, i'm buying one round."
When there, Locke asks for a strawberry smoothie, and takes out a straw to drink it with.
Assuming the tavern has it, Locke enjoys it to the fullest.
"So Gwen, has Mary gotten to providing you with weekly strawberries by now?
As i recall, it was going to be on the specialties' menu."
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Gwen looks at Tereze and cracks a smile, her bloodied lips separating to show the white teeth beneath as her eyes shine brightly from behind the swollen, bruised lids. "I'd love that, Tereze. And thank you for keeping me alive. If not for you... I don't know that I would have survived that fight," she looks around at everyone. "All of you, really. You are the most stalwart companions I have ever known. Including you, Roshi!" She pats the turtle on the shell.
Once in the tavern and having a chance to wind down, Gwen looks around at her friends with a heavy sigh. "She has indeed! They've become quite the popular item. I also learned from this gnomish fellow to combine them with this cake he found at a local bakery. He calls it 'Angel food'. Not quite sure, I personally think that sounds ridiculous, but he showed me something his daughter really enjoys. You slice the strawberries, pile them onto this 'angel food', then top it with a heavily whipped cream. The customers seem to love it. I've actually been thinking about offering him a job as a... whatever cooks are called that deal with desserts..." She shrugs. "Maybe I could cut you in on the profits, Locke. It being your idea that got this all started."
”I need a cold drink and a hot bath. Who is with me? I have heard they at least do that right here.”
Gwendallyn and company manage to find a decent tavern not too far out from the Consul's estate, The Brass Raven, tucked away behind several more upscale establishments that cater to the upper crust legislators in town. The more rustic design and setting of the tavern definitely gives the place a more comfortable and relaxed vibe that appeals to travelers and adventurers alike. As the group enters a bustling middle-aged human woman, with confident brown eyes and gray-streaked black hair tied back in a pony-tail, moves to seat the party. She visibly double-takes at the massive turtle, but recovers quickly; escorting the group to section at the back of the tavern with a round table set near a large panel set in a wall nearby. The server slides the panel open, revealing an attached animal pen outside the building on the other side; allowing adjoined seating for animal companions to dine nearby in sight of their masters.
The server, her name tag showing "Vera" in dark Taldane lettering, takes the group's orders on a well-worn notepad. Caramelized roast pork with seasonal fruit garnish, generous slices of aromatic crisp bread, and a vegetable soup appears to be the dinner on menu; though the server does mention they are able to address reasonable special orders if needed. She rattles off the drinks on tap, including the following specials:
-The Drunk Uncle: A bold, thick, creamy stout with a nostalgic flavor
-Griffin's Nest: A dwarven brandy with a cracked raw egg
-Clockwhistle's Surprise: A fruity sparkling beverage concocted by the tavern's chef, a gnome named Aldon Clockwhistle.
When there, Locke asks for a strawberry smoothie, and takes out a straw to drink it with. Assuming the tavern has it, Locke enjoys it to the fullest.
Vera pauses briefly following Locke's request, and excuses her to move swiftly back to the kitchen behind the bar. The server passes through a swinging door with a viewing window, appearing to speak with someone beyond for several minutes.
The server exits the kitchen, her face bearing an exasperated expression while being smudged with some kind of reddish substance. She returns to the table with a platter bearing a frosted glass mug appearing to contain a pinkish-red substance, the beverage crowned with a rather impressive dollop of whipped cream and a cherry. "Your...smoothie...Sir," the server says uncertainly as she sets it down in front of Locke, along with a side basket of strawberries as an appetizer. She pauses briefly to take the rest of the group's order before moving on to assist other tables.
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Locke likewise is very much interested in hearing about this strawberry 'Angel Food', almost mouth watering thinking about it.
Then, stuff happens in the kitchen.
"I guess smoothies aren't too mainstream yet."
When the smoothie is put onto the table, Locke thanks the server.
*tastes*
O.O !!
"This...is....DELICIOUS!"