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Deciding not to destroy the orrery - at least not yet - you reduce it to its normal, carryable size and then pack it up, while Uesugi carries Captain Gelviel over his shoulder. Sirettis commands her thralls to follow behind her, with Sonarisa's condition having clearly advanced to the point where she only babbles nonsensically.
You depart the ship and travel back towards Dustpawn... And it's eerie: the air feels weirdly oppressive and humid, as it might before a powerful storm. Moreover, short visions of certain destruction flicker through your minds as you get closer to the city.
You pass through the gates and despite the heaviness in the air, things seem relatively the same as they were when you left. Citizens go about their day with their families. Goats are fed at the farms that stretch across the perimeter of town. And the Mineshaft is just as empty as it was when you got here.
One thing is certainly different, however. After you enter the bar, you find Dalviss rushing between the waterskins and his barkeep, Nalan, who lies in bed with his eyes shut. "Oh! It's horrible! Something messed up is happening to Nalan here, look at him!" The man's arms have twisted in a way that shouldn't be possible, and his legs have swollen into bulbous purple appendages. They beat as his heart might. "This just started a few minutes ago, and it won't stop!"
Dalvis balks at Elkas and Valar. "You found more of them? Oh man! Is everyone in this world going to transform into some kind of freakshow?!"
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"Sonarisa, please hold on. For just a bit longer." Damn that witch and her poison! She has ruined so many lives.
Sirettis sits by the Nalan's side, trying to understand what's going on She will try to at least magically restore his health.
"Dalviss. We don't have much time. The cause of all of this is coming, soon." She stands up. "We need all of the citizens to clear the town square and stay in their homes. The... change will spread, very quickly."
She looks at her teammates. "We will stop the invader as it arrives but in the meantime there will be chaos."
"Please deliver this message as soon as you can to the mayor."
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Gallix stares blankly at Nalan's twisted form as he had stared about him for the past few hours since the vision struck him.
"Yes. The Emissary is coming," he says softly, "Even now I feel it, though my vision is not keen enough to locate him precisely. Ohhh...and he will wreak such destruction on us! How can we hope to stand against it?" The brawler stands there, transfixed by Nalan's transformation, and mutters quietly to himself.
Finally, the brawler shakes his head and looks around at his friends, both old and new, and his face returns to its usual look of genial bravado. And then, he bursts out laughing, "HA! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Well, Red Arm, if we're going to play witness to the end of the world, we might as well go down swinging, right?! Okay, Dalviss, let me and Kai take a look at your water here, make sure nothing funny got in there. Meanwhile, why don't you go deliver Sirettis's message. There's not gonna be a whole lotta time to mess around here. I only pray to Cayden that we have enough time that maybe we can get some rest before the apocalypse so we can actually give the Emissary a bad time before he destroys us all!
"Oh! And one more thing: get me a whiskey and leave the bottle. This is gonna be a long night."
As Gallix works alongside the others, he sorts through the waterskins Dalviss has present in the bar, just to make sure none of the water is contaminated.
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In a very deliberately measured tone, Kai appeals to Mr Peppers. "Yes, this is a most marvellous creation. But can any artifact, no matter its value, be worth the life of even one innocent?" In a bid to find a compromise, he continues to propose, "How about we use the limited time we have left to study this item, and only when the Emissary is near arrival do we destroy it?"
Mr Peppers eyes the newcomer with a level of slight suspicion, but doesn't disagree with his suggested course of action. "If it comes down to that then yes, but only as a last resort." I finally find something worth studying and MAYBE publishing a paper about and we're going to need to destroy it? Ironic? No. Tragic.
His mind races to come up with some possibilities as he flies back towards town, unsure on just how much time they'll have to figure this out. Maybe there's a way to DELAY its arrival to get a better sense of this Orrery? This thought quickly gets snuffed once he sees the state of the bartender.
"Is there a jail or some such in town? I hate to say it, but we should lock up those that seem infected before the creature arrives, for everyone's safety." He looks mostly at Sirettis's thralls, but also the bartender.
"Are there reports of others in the town in similar condition? We can't fight an army of these things AND this emissary."
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"Sir D. has it right. We will move to Pharasma's realm one day. But not today." Kai smiles warmly at his newfound friends, with the confidence that whatever evil arrives would be defeated. And if not, having the peace that they would have done their best.
As he follows Gallix out of the inn, his eyes are drawn to the sky, hoping to catch an early glance of its arrival, just so that they might gain some precious moments to prepare.
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"Really? The what? That fallen star triggered an alien's arrival? By Desna's t%%*, what does that even mean?" Dalviss rushes to the bar and reaches underneath it to grab a very old, dusty bottle of scotch. He twists off the cork and starts pouring shots. "The loud guy's right, if I'm gonna die, I'm going out in style! Bring it on, Emissary!" He throws back a round. It's clear he isn't thinking straight given this sudden news. "Tell the mayor, find the jail? Why do I have to do all that!?" He pours round after round in some kind of delirium.
Sirettis leans over and begins to use her hair to repair Nalan's injuries... And the appendages seem to shrink down a little as if it's working, and Nalan's breathing slows, so Sirettis starts walking away to rejoin the others near the bar.
But suddenly, Nalan juts up in his bed, his head hanging freely. His legs shoot out as long tentacles and grow past the edges of the bed while all of his hair falls off. His skull cracks as his jaw disappears and his face quadruples in size. As he stands up, the transformed purple-skinned giant takes one hand and tears open the wall, roaring in anger as he steps into town.
"What the hell was that?" Dalviss stops, setting his glass down.
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D. ignores the man's sudden fit of drinking away his worries.
We all cope with drama one way or another. The fool dulls his senses for survival though.
(cue roaring and sounds of destruction)
"That came from Nalan's room?!"
If not,
D. moves towards Nalan's room and carefully opens the door, to see the guy move out.
"He's heading into town."
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D. throws open a few doors to reveal the area outside the bar, and watches the big purple mutant throw its head back and roar, terrifying the townspeople and sending them bounding off in all directions screaming for their lives.
Sirettis lifts off and goes outside
The mutant stomps through the streets and picks up a goat with one hand, biting its head off and spitting it out at a villager like a bowling ball. It whips the headless goat at another group of fleeing citizens, crushing them under its weight.
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Sirettis conjures a Greater Aggressive Thundercloud to strike what is left of Nalan.
It deals damage to him.
"I will try to distract him. Hurry!"
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Kai can only hear the commotion from where he is, but it does not sound good. He rushes out to see the mayhem that the polymorphed man is causing. He grabs a vial from his bandolier and downs the content, almost immediately doubling in size! Hope that draws his attention enough away from the civilians. He crouches low with his spear raised.
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Damn! And I already used my cig for the day, Gallix thinks as the crashing and roaring of the mutated Nalan echoes through the streets of Dustpawn. Guess that means it's time for a little diddy.
The brawler rushes out through the doors following Kai. He still can't see the enemy, but he begins to chant nonetheless. The song echoes with power, tempting the warriors of the Red Arm to accept its call and let the lightning of the ancients flow through them!
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D begins to summon in some help to slow the mutant's path of destruction, and Sirettis gathers the clouds above Nalan's head, bolts of lightning bursting down, zapping the bulging shoulders of the creature. Kai doubles his size to match the mutant's own, and the creature turns as it notices the more worthy foe appear!
Mr. Peppers racks his brain trying to recall something about the creature... but cannot.
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With a twitching eye and a nearly blank facial expression, the man of few words moves swiftly to follow Sir D and Sirettis outside. He strides in front of the pair and draws his katana, issuing a challenge to the oversized, yet still undersized Godzilla.
"Stop this foolishness and return to your bed!"
Challenge (4/day) (Ex) As a swift action, the samurai chooses one target within sight to challenge. The samurai's melee attacks deal extra damage when made against the target of his challenge. This extra damage is equal to the samurai's level. The samurai can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day for every three levels beyond 1st, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level.
Challenging a foe requires much of the samurai's concentration. The samurai takes a –2 penalty to his Armor Class, except against attacks made by the target of his challenge.
The challenge remains in effect until the target is dead or unconscious, or until the combat ends. Each samurai's challenge also includes another effect, which is listed in the section describing the samurai's order.
Challenge: Whenever a ronin is the target of a challenge, a smite, a quarry, or similar effect, and he issues a challenge against that character in return, the ronin receives a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls made against the target of his challenge and a +1 dodge bonus to his AC against attacks made by the target of his challenge. These bonuses increase by +1 for every four class levels the samurai possesses (to a maximum of +6 at 20th level).
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Uesugi rushes out, and the giant mutant stomps its legs back, turning to face Kai. Kai strikes out as it approaches, bruising Nalan's leg and angering him further. He roars as he juts down to chomp into Kai's shoulder.
... And Kai winces in pain as Nalan's teeth sink in, spreading an infection into the wound.
_______
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Sirettis redirects the Greater Aggressive Thundercloud to follow Nalan. It deals damage to him.
Sirettis hovers in place and casts Overwhelming Grief at Nalan to stop the rampage.
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Nalan's purple skin takes on a burnt ashy color when Mr. Peppers zaps it with a line of electricity. Then the creature throws its head back and roars loudly, grabbing its head as painful memories fill its mind.
The distraction serves to ruin Nalan's ability to defend himself, and D., Uesugi, and Kai slash and fry the creature with blade and negative energy. Nalan falls to one knee, and crashes through another wall of the Mineshaft.
Dalviss storms out, wearing armor and holding his halbred. "Madness! The whole place has gone MAD! Bring it on, Emissary! I'll kill you myself!" He shouts up at the sky, which has darkened in a several-mile radius around Dustpawn, as if twilight were suddenly falling.
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Gallix's mind fills with nightmarish images of a tentacled monster as he pinpoints the Emissary above. It races down at a fiendish speed, and looks like it's sped up! So much so that it seems it will arrive within only a few minutes...
As Gallix snaps out of it and reports on what he's seen, the chaos around town suddenly takes a turn for the worse: a family who had been fleeing towards the town square suddenly fall to the ground, howling and thrasing as their bodies bend out of shape. Then another group of farmers scream as feathers sprout from their faces. An awful cacophony of howls fills the entire town as the citizens all begin mutating.
Dalviss Creen suddenly doubles over in pain, his body bulging and expanding. A wolf's tail sprouts from his behind, and when his transformation completes, he looks up at Uesugi with his fangs out, slobbering madly.
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Mr Peppers looks to the sky and knows its almost time. If he doesn't prepare them now he'll be too late once the Emissary arrives. All is not lost... yet. I can still help my friends survive...
He pulls out his spellbook and quickly turns to the necessary page and quickly puts it to memory at the expense of another.
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Mr Peppers looks up from his spellbook for just a moment as Dalviss's halbard crashes to the ground. He doesn't say a word, merely looks back into his book.
"I'll give you melee types some protect against physical attacks. May as well put that diamond dust to use if we're going to save the world." He slips his Caperina signet ring from his finger and pops out three diamonds, wraps them in his cloak and crushes them under a rock, then proceeds to sprinkle Uesugi, Gallix, and Kai each with powdered diamond as he speaks Elven words of Arcana.
Noble Heir (Sovereign Court): You rallied several of Absalom’s noble houses, all of which distinguished themselves during the siege. All four are eager to recruit new talent into their hierarchy, and they have each invited you to become a lord or lady bearing their respective family name. Choose the al-Hadir, Arpador, Caperina, or Tullian family. You are a lord or lady of that family whose noble status is recognized in most realms. You also gain a signet ring and one bejeweled bauble for each character level you have (9). You can pry the gem out of a bauble to use in place of an expensive material component requiring gemstone dust, and each bauble’s gem is worth 100 gp.
He then buffs himself against the coming apocolypse.
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The chaos continues all around you, with other villagers falling to the ground and sprouting animal parts, their arms bending backwards. A boy with the head of a giraffe and legs of a gazelle runs by you while a goat gives chase. Or is it actually a goat, though? It's hard to tell at this point!
But then... Then something lances down from the heavens - a big dark blot - and lands at the open plaza just north of the Mineshaft with a muted rumble. The creature - a nest of tentacles, eyeballs, and green vapor - just like the one you saw in your nightmares - lurches forward, chills running up your spines.
The fleeing, mutated villagers all stop, and turn to the Emissary, walking towards it. It's eerily quiet as they shuffle forward, and when the Emissary finally speaks in a strange rumbling voice. It isn't necessarily in Taldane, either. You hear its words in whatever native language you grew up with.
"I declare the village of Dustpawn a vassal to the Dominion of the Black. Citizens, present yourselves to me."
The mutants shamble forward and fall to their knees in worship.
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"Someone with stronger arms than I should give Dalviss a good knock over the head so he sleeps for a longer period of time.. things look like they're about to get messy." He watches the creature land and does his best to recall what he may know if it... exactly nothing.