The man leads you down the hall, through the kitchen, and out the back door. He leads you over to the entrance of the smaller building at the back of the property.
"Qutirh will be able to sort this all out. I don't understand what any of this has to do with us. I'm sure it must be some sort of mistake."
The man leads you right up to the door of the building.
"No sir, I don't know what any of this has to do with us."
He marches right up to the door and opens it wide. As soon as he does, a coil of rope comes flying out of the door, right at Balon.
The rope moves and coils around the priest, securely tying him up.
Initiative:
1st: Dailung, Hamilton, Rufus, Lion
2nd: Qutirh
3rd: Balon, Milo, Tharkan
The grim priest shows an uncharacteristic dexterity, managing to dance away from the rope just before it entangles him. Dailung steps up and chops the cord to pieces, ensuring it won't be used against them again. Hamilton steps up and swings at the attacker, but misses his mark.
1st: Dailung, Hamilton, Rufus, Lion
2nd: Qutirh
3rd: Balon, Milo, Tharkan
Rufus casts a spell of protection on the group.
Seeing the party approach, the winged creature moves back from the open doorway. He utters a few words in a lisping tongue, and suddenly two smaller creatures appear, one each in front of Hamilton and Tharkan.
The globular creatures move to attack, but are repulsed by the protection Rufus conjured.
1st: Dailung, Hamilton, Rufus
2nd: Qutirh
3rd: Balon/Lion, Milo, Tharkan
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Milo curses angrily in orcish as the Erinyes summons yet more devils into the fray.
With a distinctly uncomfortable grimace on his face, he mutters a few arcane words then lobs a small orb of crackling electricity towards Qutirh, which explodes into a huge ball of crackling electricity, filling the room with the devil, and bursting out the door to engulf both the lemures as well.
electricity damage (DC 20 reflex for half)
After which, he moves forward to be out of the devils immediate line of sight, and attempts to hide.
As the devil moves, Hamilton slashes at it, opening a nasty wound in its side. The devil starts uttering words in a lisping tongue, probably attempting to summon help.
Balon orders the lion to attack. The skeletal beast launches itself at the devil, taking a bite from the outsider's arm.
Milo then steps forward and sends a large blast of electricity into the building.
The creature is able to dodge out of the way, taking only partial damage from the blast. The conflagration does manage to disrupt its casting.
Rufus launches a couple of arrows, but both of them go wide, missing their target.
1st: Dailung, Hamilton, Rufus
2nd: Qutirh
3rd: Balon/Lion, Milo, Tharkan
Tharkan steps up to the devil, landing a massive blow. Dailung and Hamilton both take swings at the outsider, but neither is able to connect.
Realizing it is outmatched, the devil utters a few words and disappears from in front of the group.
The two human servants are nowhere to be found. You believe they fled as soon as the fighting started.
You are able to conduct a thorough search of the premises. The villa has several comfortable bedchambers, a bath chamber, a dining room, and a study upstairs. Downstairs holds two storerooms, a kitchen, a cramped servants’ room, and disheveled guards’ quarters (currently empty).
The study holds several items of interest. A box atop Ibn-Chadli’s desk holds neatly-organized correspondence. These papers include a sheaf of love letters written to Lujine, returned after she rejected his suit.
Perception:
As she searches, Dailung finds a loose floor tile, beneath which lies the Jewels of Xalmer, wrapped in greasy black parchment. Under them sits a battered journal, a volume once stolen from Pathfinder Venture-Captain Targos Min-Katheer. Its notes describe sites near Katheer, but the text readily falls open to a section describing the Tomb of the Upright High Priest Ubaidah Abd-Hikmah, several hours’ ride up the coast. It details the isolated site’s importance to the local church of Sarenrae.
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Once the creature is gone, Milo walks around to the front of the building, and snorts derisively.
"Did down on that prig." He says contemptuously. "Now ta drop this Chadli prig."
He precedes to look around with the rest.
When Dailung locates the secret stash under the floor tiles, he consults the list of stolen wedding items, to confirm that the Jewels were indeed another of the items they were searching for.
"The ream swag, for sure." He confirms.
"Granny its the deadlurk now." He adds, seemingly ready to chase down their next lead.
Eager to deal with the Ibn-Chadli, the group hastily makes their way to the end of the Avenue of the Phoenix. As they turn down the next road, a company of three dozen heavily-armored horsemen and a handful of robed and veiled sorcerers approach, their splendid equipment gleaming mirror-bright. From their midst, a massively built man rides forward, his face obscured by a golden helm. “Pathfinders!” he shouts. “You are hereby arrested and ordered to appear before the Court of His Exalted Eminence, Xerbystes II, Defender of the Zho and Satrap of Glorious Katheer, praise be upon him. Lay down your arms and come with us to hear your accusers, lest you arouse the terrible displeasure of His Eminence!”
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Carefully drawing her scimitar in a non-threatening fashion Dailung presents it to the speaker on her palms and bows as deep as possible.
"Honorable Sir, of course we do! This is your country and if we have the honor to be adressed by his magnificence, we hasten to follow his wishes. My his health last forever and his children be his pride! If we are accused, we are ready to defend our innocence, be Saranrae our witness!"
As the group agrees to go with the man, you find yourselves housed in the land’s most opulent prison. The chambers are elegantly appointed, yet the solid iron doors lock from the outside. You are warned
that any spellcasting within the rooms will arm a lethal magical trap. Your weapons and obvious magic items are removed, but you are otherwise treated with grave courtesy. You aren’t even searched.
"The lion, however, will have to go. Either dismiss it yourself, or we will have to do it for you. Thank you for your cooperation."
The following morning, you are brought before the Satrap’s court. The Satrap’s court stands within a grand hall, one of the most opulent structures in the Inner Sea. Dozens of courtiers and soldiers line the magnificent hall, the Peerless advisors of the Satrap. In a small alcove off to one side, an executioner sharpens a massive axe, his face covered by a frowning golden mask.
A herald’s voice booms forth, “Pathfinders! You stand accused of murder, theft, and the looting of graves! Come forward and answer for these crimes!”
A woman sits on a folding chair beside the herald, her features veiled.
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"The lion is inconsequential, as it is mindless." Balon casts cure light wounds from a wand and touches the skeleton, which falls into a pile of bones.
"Who accuses us, and whom did we supposedly murder? And I would have you know, despite my appearance, I am no robber of graves. Let us meet our accuser face-to-face, and he or she may tell us what these supposed crimes might be."
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Bowing deeply before the lady Dailung kneels gracefully down, indicating she accepts the Ladys superiority she waits before given the chance to answer then speaks up, hearing the outburst of Balon and very slightly shaking her head in pitty, as if to say she apologizes for his uncouth manners.
"Mylady, someone named us Murderer, thief and graverobber. Alas, common words spoken by those who are deceived by our enemys or who just see what they want to see. I name us preservers of wisdom, defenders of the faiths and shield of the innocent or frail. ALthough not everyone in our organization is a saint, we are people after all, and the gods gave us the ability for the best and the worst, and in every land, organisation and church we have all types of people, we do not go around and kill. I for one, have sworn an oath of nonlethality on my faith and live by it. In my duties as a pathfinder I have defended communities, hunted murderers, hunted pirates but never looted tombs."
After listening to both Balon and Dailung, the woman responds:
“You stand accused of plotting the theft of ancient relics, and of the planned murder of Master Bashir al-Mudaris so that your masters among the Pathfinder Society might claim the resources of the House of Silver. What do you say to these accusations?”
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Looking into the ladys eyes to see if her words had any effect Dailung continues:
"Mylady, someone charged us with some horrible accusations. We were send here, for one reason and one reason alone. To attend a wedding and guard the grooms dowry. There has been a theft, I can and will not deny it, but we are tasked to find the items stolen. There is a list of items to be presented, we have it here. We can bring a number of witnesses to testify that those items were already in possession of the father of the bride! We are no murderers and I can, from the bottom of my soul, deny the idea that we are tasked to kill someone. We have no idea of any plots to topple one house, we are innocent!"
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Milo seems to spend most of his time just glaring at everyone sullenly.
Getting blamed by the authorities for things you didn't do was more or less par for the course where he grew up, as far as he was concerned. Whether you were actually guilty or not was moot. Pleading your case was futile.
"Is all carked!" He mutters angrily. "Fawney prigs throwin' flam coopered us! Probably that Ibn'Chadli scurf"
"Gotta prove we didn't do it? How come the git what blew us don't gotta prove we did?" He glowers angrily.
"'Cause toffers stick to their own, that's why." He looks disgusted.