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Round 2
HP 11/11
AC 12 FF 10 T 12 CMD 13
F/R/W 2/2/2
Prescience 7/7
Arcane Bond 1/1
Spells
0th - Light, Mage Hand, Ray of Frost, Detect Magic
1st - Burning Hands, Color Spray, Comprehend Languages
Effects
None
Senken pulls out some rope and moves next to the nearest of the hunters. "Perhaps we shall attempt to put out the blazes while someone helps me subdue our friends here?"
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Seeing that Falbin's aura was weak and flickering like a candle in the breeze, Calanthe carefully gathers up little specks of life energy from the numerous plants in the nearby garden and begins to transfer them into Falbin--kind of like a blood transfusion of positive energy. Between her healing magic and Belegorn's harsh-smelling salts, the gnome is stabilized and brought to consciousness.
"Are you okay, Falbin?" The tiefling asks worriedly. "We're from the Pathfinder Society. What happened here...?"
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Seeing that Falbin's aura was weak and flickering like a candle in the breeze, Calanthe carefully gathers up little specks of life energy from the numerous plants in the nearby garden and begins to transfer them into Falbin--kind of like a blood transfusion of positive energy. Between her healing magic and Belegorn's harsh-smelling salts, the gnome is stabilized and brought to consciousness.
"Are you okay, Falbin?" The tiefling asks worriedly. "We're from the Pathfinder Society. What happened here...?"
Thank you for saving me."Rumors of lycanthrope activity often bring ruthless bounty hunters to the region, anxious to kill for coin. The rumors of animal-men south of Wispil have brought several such groups to the region. These men robbed me of my belladonna supply just before
you arrived and started burning down my gardens! I can’t thank you enough for saving my life and my livelihood.”
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What do you know about the reports about increased lycanthrope activity near Briar Henge?
“I initially thought they were lycanthrope too, but I was wrong. Just like these hunters are wrong. Therumors spring from animal-men sighted in the forest near Briar Henge, where the druid’s ongoing ritual has had the strongest prolonged effect. The animal-men are bestial and dangerous, but they aren’t true lycanthropes, as they can’t change form and don’t have any particular vulnerability to silver—or to belladonna.”
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To Falbin
What's the best way to get there?
“It’s two days south of here, so you’d best hurry if you want to catch the druids before the ritual ends. The trail is fairly good for the first day, and there’s a small logging camp you could rest at. The loggers there are no friends of the druids, so you’re likely to receive a warm welcome if you mention you’re working against Briar Henge. Briar Henge is another day further southeast along some narrow but passable trails.”
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"These beast-men... have they been turned that way by the druidic ritual? Is it willing, or unwilling?" Calanthe asks during a break in the conversation. "Do you know if there is a way to turn them back to normal?"
“The druids intend to transform everyone in the surrounding area into
feral animal-men as a perverted way of returning them to ‘nature.’ The ritual is slow but powerful. The druids have been performing the ritual for weeks, and it seems to affect the area for miles around Briar Henge. Exactly how far out, I couldn't say. I've done a lot of research, though, and I've learned two important points. First, the effects of the ritual are reversed only if the Atavistic Splinter is removed from Briar Henge before the entire ritual is complete—then all the affected animal-men would return to normal. Second, the ritual will end at sundown the day after tomorrow. That is, the ritual will only last two more days. As it takes almost two days to get to Briar Henge, you’d better get moving.”
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Calanthe nods in agreement with Senken, a smile gracing her lips. "I can make sure that any beast-men injured in the process of subduing them remain alive... I am glad that we need not waste their lives here."
"We should... make sure we have provisions for travelling. Rations, bedrolls, and the like."
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Calanthe was not used to excess overland travel, and she's quite fatigued by the lot of it. Arriving at the logging camp was at first a spot of relief, but when it quickly became apparent that the whole place was abandoned, the tiefling was rather disappointed that they hadn't a chance to rest here. She looks around, trying to spot any signs of life--or anything that may have caused the lumberjacks to simply get up and leave.
"Morrigan, have a fly around... see if you can spot anyone, please," Calanthe whispers to her familiar, and the brown-feathered whippoorwill takes flight off of her shoulder to do a quick circle around the camp.
While waiting for Morrigan to return, Calanthe turns to the rest of the group. "I hope that... they have not been turned into beast-men..." she says quietly with a touch of concern.
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You all feel the call of the wild but only Calanthe succumbs.
gain 2 claw attacks and 1 bite attack dealing damage as though the creature were one size category smaller (Medium creatures deal 1d3 points of claw damage and 1d4 points of bite damage, Small creatures deal 1d2 points of claw damage and 1d3 points of bite damage; all three attacks are considered primary attacks); Ability Scores +2 bonus to Con, –2 Int damage, –2 Cha damage.
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Calanthe easily spots a trio of bestial woodsmen hiding themselves behind a building, but before she can do anything, she doubles over, wracked with sudden pain in her chest. Her mind fills with crazed images of the wild, indistinct, blurry, and vicious, accompanied by a cacophony of animal cries--howling wolves, roaring lions, snarling bears, screeching eagles, and more. Calanthe collapses on the ground with a wail of pain, clutching pathetically at the ground and thrashing about as her body begins to shift and morph before the others' eyes.
White feathers sprout from her pale skin and hooked, raptor-like talons emerge from her fingertips and toes, tearing through her boots. Her face elongates and hardens into a curved beak, while a feathered tail sprouts from her backside and pushes its way out from beneath her pants and cloak. In the end, she collapses on the ground panting and dazed, looking not unlike some kind of white-feathered were-eagle. When her eyes flutter open, they appear to have remained the same, with her left eye a crimson red and her right eye a pale gold; vestiges of her curled, otherwordly horns also remain, though half-covered with avian feathers and her now thoroughly messed and tangled hair.
After spending a few moments catching her breath, Calanthe scrambles to her feat, shaking as she looks down in despair at the feathered pseudo-wings attached to her arms and the sickly talons protruding from her fingertips. "W-W-What... happened to me...? Is this... the ritual...?"
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 8 (1d6+2)
Fort +2
Melee 2 claws -1 (1d3-1), bite -1 (1d4-1)
Special Attacks hexes (evil eye [DC 13], healing)
Witch Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +4)
.....1st—infernal healing, ray of enfeeblement (DC 14)
.....0 (at-will)—daze (DC 13), detect magic, stabilize
Patron healing
Con 14, Int 16, Cha 8
Skills Appraise +6, Knowledge (Arcana) +7, Knowledge (History) +7, Knowledge (Religion) +8, Linguistics +4, Spellcraft +7