The Dark Tapestry - Round 2
24 Imrizade
23 Dvalin
17 Helm
16 Green Zombie
14 White Zombie (8hp dmg)
13 Tad
12 Elris
12 Purple Zombie
7 Swayaah
Bless in effect
The strange form of the Blakros heir, along with the tendrils tying her to the portal beyond, moves forward raising her wand. As she closes in on the melee combat, a spiraling oscillating array of colors and patterns erupts in a 15' cone around her. The undead are unaffected by the swirls of light and color, but Helm and Swayaah start to feel the effects, their eyelids slowly drooping under the effect of the hypnotic pattern.
Getting in on the act, Dvalin steps forward, and using his Bless he strikes another of the zombies, wounding it but not stopping it.
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Helm looks like he is about to succumb to the hypnotic light, but draws on some hidden reserve to overcome it.
He retaliates against the enemy, slicing at another zombie with his razor-sharp blade.
The Dark Tapestry - Round 2 - continued
Though the swirling pattern of colors is dazzling and hypnotizing, Helm's code of honor gives him the internal fortitude to overcome it. Swayaah's outsider nature allows her to force the effect away, and the Color Spray ends up with no effect.
Gathering his wits, Helm swings his katana in a powerful stroke, taking the head clean off the nearest zombie.
Stepping back in front of the samurai, White Zombie swings quickly striking at the tiefling ranger with both fists. Fortunately, neither blow from the mindless corpse lands.
Tad fires again at the Purple Zombie, trying to take him down. The halfling's bullet hits the fleshy target, wounding him, but not stopping him.
The Dark Tapestry - Round 2 - continued
Elris steps back and looses an arrow at point-blank range. The missile tears through the zombie's decaying flesh and it drops in heap at his feet.
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Swayaah lashes at the zombie once, trying to end its unlife.
"Let's see if we can knock Blakros out, rather than kill her outright. I could have ended up like her if mom didn't set me on a different path." Mom hated being a guinea pig for her family.
Swayaah continues her assault. "I LOVE trashing zombies! My favorite pasttime with dad."
Swayaah picks up her dropped Earthbraker.
The Dark Tapestry - Round 2 - concluded
Her claws slashing here and there, Swayaah rends the last zombie into shreds and bends down for her mighty maul, knowing the last fight is yet to come.
End of Round 2
The Dark Tapestry - Round 3
24 Imrizade
23 Dvalin
17 Helm
13 Tad
12 Elris
7 Swayaah
Imrizade casts another spell then her arms strangely elongate, allowing her to deliver a touch attack on Swayaah. The oddly possessed Blakros succeeds in delivering the touch, and Swayaah is jolted with a blast of electricity for 11 hp dmg. The sorceress then flees back to guard the strange dark archway.
The Dark Tapestry - Round 3
After handling all the zombies, the heroes now take off rushing after the quick=moving Imrizadae. Both Dvalin and Helm spend the time chasing the sorceress, ready to join in combat next round.
The Dark Tapestry - Round 3 - concluded
Elris fires his arrow at the strange sorceress, but his arrows fly wide of the quick-moving Imrizade.
Ready to end this now, Swayaah rushes into the last chamber, not fazed by the strange archway. Charging to melee position, the ranger swings her mighty earthbreaker, tyring to avoid the vital spots. The hammer crashes into the caster's midsection and the air escapes her in woosh.
The power of Swayaah's attack is clear, and the Blakros girl is staggered by the blow, nearly going down in one hit.
End of Round 3
The Dark Tapestry - round 4
24 Imrizade (17 hp dmg)
23 Dvalin
17 Helm
13 Tad
12 Elris
7 Swayaah
Stepping back even closer to the strange archway, the thing that was Imrizade pulls a small vial from her pouch, pulls the stopper, and down the healing potion.
The Dark Tapestry - Round 4 - concluded
Dvalin and Helm offer attacks intended to subdue their foe, rather than slay her, but their swings are therefore clumsy and they miss making any impact.
Elris also aims to wound and not kill, but his arrow misses the target caroming off the strange archway behind her.
Only Swayaah, rending with her claws, is able to score significant hits. The force of her blows stuns the Blakros woman, sending her slumping to the floor, unconscious.
End of Combat
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The walls and ceiling of the chamber beyond bulge outward, continuing the grotesque architectural style of the antechamber, as if you were standing in the leviathan's stomach. Queer, glowing nodules protrude from the walls at seemingly random intervals, bathing the room in their sickly green glow. A tall, free-standing almost organic looking archway carved from a strange, glowing blue-green stone stands atop a low dais in a wide alcove at the far end of the chamber. The center of the arch is empty, revealing the wall behind it, but the space occasionally flickers with curtains of starry darkness, as if somewhere else lies just beyond the portal. A susurrus of ghostly whispers see to issue from the gate, their language and meaning unclear, but fraught with a sense of wrongness.
The archway is 15' tall and carved from a strange blue-green stone. A strange metal cylinder is attached at the apex of the arch.
Swayaah wipes the sweat off her brow. "I guess those weird fungus got to her. Everybody check yourselves for fungal infection on your way outta here."
Wanting to shut down the portal, Swayaah looks at the cylinder atop the archway. "Anyone knows how to shut this thing off? Also, what's in the box? I totally forgot about it!" Swayaah ties Blakros up, then scampers over to the box. "Please, no more spiders..."
The sense of wrongness seems to exude from the metal cylinder itself which is at the apex of the arch 15' in the air. The whispering sound comes from the portal which is still active, with no visible way to close. The tendrils are still attached to the Blakros woman, who is alive but unconscious for now.
The box in the other room is empty now that the spiders have been freed.
While conscious the half-Osirian sorceress' eyes were completely black with no irises visible. The eyes, though partially closed due to her unconsciousness, remain black even after the tendrils are removed from the Blakros girl.
The cylinder is detached from the apex of the archway, and the archway goes silent and dark, the chilling whispering ends. The cylinder seems to be made of solid iron. No joint or seam is apparent, but judging by the weight there is something inside.
As you start to depart, the unconscious Blakros eventually awakens. Shaking her head, she clearly does not remember the events of the last few days well. "We found that cylinder in Osirion and I brought it back here to study. That thing, it took over my mind. I can still feel it in there, trying to get back in control of me. Let's destroy it before it overwhelms someone else."
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Swayaah gives a genuine smile as she sees Imzere awaken. Blakros wrinkles her nose, that way all humans do. "Good to see you awake. Sorry about the claw marks, we had to slow you down."
"Any way to stop this besides smashing it? 'Cause seriously, I'll do that. Right now."
Swayaah takes a few practice swings, then crushes the cylinder with her earthbreaker.
Damage Total
"Heavens! That felt good."
With a few fell blows from her earthbreaker, Swayaah smashes the strange cannister. Within, and now smashed to little bits, is the remains of a pinkish-white human brain.
"It was the brain of the great aberrant sorceror Kubburum Ishme-Dagan. He tried to dominate me and cause me to open the portal to the Dark Tapestry, but you intervened and saved me, and perhaps all of Golarion. Well done, Pathfinders!"
With the brain of the ancient Osirian now demolished, the Gate of Beyond is dismanteled and Imrizade is freed from danger. Forever more she is plagued by dreams of the Dark Tapestry and its nightmare vistas and bizarre beings, but she is safe and happily turns over the rest of the Osirian artifacts, unearthed during her last expedition, to the Pathfinder Society. Nigel is pleased that another threat to the Museum has been snuffed out.
End of Scenario
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"Smashy, smashy!" Swayaah grins as she obliterates whatever is in there. "It was his brain... glad to help you, Blakros. Happy you're free from that. Really, I am."
As they return from the basement, Swayaah hugs Ilvan before he finishes eating the screaming mushroom. "You're going to be sick tonight, aren't you, boy? Sometimes you're more trouble than it's worth."
Checking the fractures on her earthbreaker, Swayaah frowns. "Those statues were pretty nasty. Those skeletons were really cool, though. Glad to have helped, Nigel."