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Wraiths blade finds purchase tearing through the monster quite effectively.
Telos - nauseated 2 rounds
Wraith
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Blue (-6hp)
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Wylka
Astingaire - shaken 1 rd
Cazlin - Nauseated for 1 rounds
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Red
Astingaire laughs off the attempt to scare him but the scream still leaves him a bit on edge.
The monster snarls at Wraith in response to her blade and attempts to take her down.
Telos - nauseated 1 rounds
Wraith -3 hp
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Blue (-6hp)
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Wylka
Astingaire - shaken 1 rd
Cazlin
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Red
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Unable to maintain his "blessed" words to Aroden out of sheer fright, Astingaire attempts to fight back his doubts and fears and strike at the creature that is the object of his horror.
But to no avail as his sword strike hard against stone, missing the creature entirely. The Pathfinder steps back, fearful of retaliation by the beast.
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Cazlin's arrow is true and rips through the monster as it stalks Wraith and destroys it. It disappears a moment later.
Telos - nauseated 1 rounds
Wraith -3 hp
Wylka
Astingaire - shaken 1 rd
Cazlin
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Red
The Red beast moves on Wylka, convinced the cleric is easy pickings after that whooshing miss.
Unfortunately he seems to have underestimated the effectiveness of scale mail and gets a mouth full of metal for his trouble.
Telos
Wraith -3 hp
Wylka
Astingaire
Cazlin
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Red
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Cazlin follows forwards in search of the last of the foul looking creatures. When he spots it around the corner he draws a morningstar in one hand and advances forward carefully past Telos.
The lingering stench of the gas the creatures had deployed almost leaves him gagging, but not so badly that he doesn't get in two swings of his weapon.
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Astingaire once again invokes the name of Aroden, "A most righteous smiting upon you, foul creature, in the name of the First Azlanti and the Living God!" He strikes at the creature once again with the favored weapon of the god he invoked.
[dice=Damage (longsword) with "smite"]1d8+2+1[/dice]
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Between the magic missile, Astingaire's smite and Wraith coming in for the kill blow the final creature is eviscerated and destroyed.
Prince Gandros is still pretty zonked out giving you a chance to look around unimpeded.
You quickly find over in the darkened area the source of the problem. No portal or anything like that. But there is a spent scroll on the ground among the detritus of the destroyed contents of this store room.
The scroll case is labeled "Summoning spell (pre-paid)" in an old barely legible script.
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Its difficult to tell because its a spent scroll, but it looks to you like it probably contained several spells that gandros most likely read accidentally and triggered to go off.
Basically it looks like he summoned these creatures and then bound them to his service via a blind activation of the scroll. They were designed to be used by pathfinders so his being in possession of the wayfinder is probably what allowed this to happen.
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Looking at the scroll and investigating the room, "That is good. Looks like it was just an accidental spell summoning. No portal to another plane."
"It also looks like our prince is not the pathfinder. Question now is do we leave him here or bring him back, so he can possibly be 'healed' from eating so many toxic mushrooms."
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"I doubt our new 'business partner' would be too eager to take him in, at least before he has sufficiently been freed from the influence of the toxins he ingested." suggests Astingaire.
He casts detect magic to make sure there are no other "portals" or other surprises about. He searches the room for any additional items perhaps related to the original owner of the wayfinder.
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As you begin looking around for ownership you do actually find several framed pathfinder chronicles - caked over with dust - with the name "Relios" listed as one of the authors.
It seems that "Emperor Relios" the dessicated corpse on the throne next to Gandros may have been a pathfinder.
Satisfied that there is no other magic or surprises the group is able to leave unmolested but is left with two major questions - What to do with Prince Gandros and what to report to Venture Captain Brackett.
Astingaire wracks his brain trying to see if he can recall information that might suggest how to formulate or obtain an antidote or medicinal that could possibly help "The Prince" stave off the influence of the mushrooms.
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After a few moments of wariness, Cazlin stows his weapons and joins the rest in searching the back room. When the spent scroll is discovered, he crosses his arms and peers at it skeptically before giving Gandros a long, evaluating look.
"C-could he r-really have r-read this?" His question is somewhat ruined by the way he has to grit his teeth to force out the last word.
Once the group is satisfied that they've found all they can from the Prince's chambers, Cazlin clamps a hand around the Prince's wrist. He adds "P-prince needs help. B-badly." when Telos offers his take. He struggles to follow the line up, eventually flipping to a rushed,
"Little prince all alone,
waiting helpless for the throne.
While madness steals another day,
his only help go on their way.
With rotten dangers hiding near,
an addled brain has much to fear."
"B-better he s-stay safe until the Lodge c-can decide?"
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"We can try to convince the V.C. that he may know about the dead agent. As a matter of fact, we should bring the body back as well to be interred properly." With that, Wraith looks around to see if any of the 'regal trappings' would serve to wrap up the corpse. "Astingaire, care to say a prayer to consecrate Relios before we leave?"
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The group properly begins to move on, with Wraith trying to inter the body of Emperor Relios, this initially badly upsets Gandros, but he is ultimately pretty easy to cow in his current state and you are able to come back to the surface with relative ease.
Astingaire is away that some time with proper diet and clean living should reverse the physical ails that currently befall the Prince...sometimes madness, particularly madness caused by long years of trauma as is almost certainly the case here, cannot be so easily cured with magic or with simple means. The Prince is going to need a long term commitment to his care if his mental health is ever to mend.
The Venture-Captain sees you roll up on his lodge with the corpse in tact and he gives you a long sigh. So I take by the looks on your faces that we are not in fact sitting on top of a portal to hell. What a waste of time. Did you at least find out what the connection to the wayfinder was? Its odd for one to go missing like that...
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"We believe the wayfinder belonged to this agent. Evidence suggests his name was Relios. The Prince here spent some time with him and may be able to provide more information, such as why Relios had a scroll to summon up lesser demons who had to serve someone with a wayfinder. All he needs is time and some TLC. The Prince also proved valuable by directing us to a new contact. We were able to come to an understanding with this asset who can provide street-level information due to a network he has created. I think the man has earned a little more help from The Society."
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Brackett looks over the information and the journal you found along with it and then wracks his memory.
You know, I do think I remember this man. He had been retired from the pathfinders from some time back when I was a fresh recruit. He actually tried to sell his pathfinder back to the lodge because his store had fallen on hard times. I had thought he died during the earthquake. Come to think of it....he did have a son. I think...i think his name might actually have been Gandros come to think of it.
He spits in frustration, as though he can feel a promotion slipping through his fingers at having come up empty here. Well...I suppose that is something. And a contact like that could prove useful...Fine bring him back up. I will see to it he is cared for. I'm gonna be a laughing stock over this. Venture captain taking in a homeless crazy but... I guess he is a pathfinder.