Mr. Peppers (3 damage)
Sir D (3 damage)
Uesugi (54 damage)
Tiffany (3 damage)
Gallix (25 damage, Bull's Strength, caltropped)
Red dotted eidolon (Entangled, Blinded 1 rounds, 20 damage), Blue solid eidolon (69 damage)
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The Elf's frustration and slight panic levels are rising "My magic isn't affecting them! I don't know why... Do what you can, I'll try to work these wands!"
Mr Peppers draws out his healing wand and tries to activate it on Uesugi's numerous wounds.
In his panic he mispronounces the activation phrase, which doesn't make things any better. "ARRGGHh!"
Mister Peppers is clearly frustrated that his magical expertise is denied. Tiffany's magic flows freely, helping Uesugi's bruises fade.
Sir D's blast bounces off the eidolon's rock-hard hide, but Uesugi's first slash goes right through the abomination, leaving two inert halves writhing on the ground.
Gallix kicks more glass but it quickly swats it away. He manages to pummel it once before it goes on the counterattack.
Thanks to his defensive training, Gallix is able to deflect the thing as it tries to wallop him.
Through training, determination and luck no one manages to step on a caltrop. One less thing to worry about...
Mr. Peppers (3 damage)
Sir D (3 damage)
Uesugi (50 damage)
Tiffany (3 damage)
Gallix (25 damage, Bull's Strength, caltropped)
Red dotted eidolon (Entangled, 28 damage)
For Uesugi, all that matters is his blade cutting through enemies in his way. It's quite successful this time.
Sir D's blast knocks the other one off balance as Uesugi spots a weakpoint at the base of its tail. He takes his katana and drives it right into the creature's gut, splitting it wide open. It lays on the ground and stops moving moments later.
Mr. Peppers (3 damage)
Sir D (3 damage)
Uesugi (43 damage)
Tiffany (3 damage)
Gallix (25 damage, Bull's Strength, caltropped)
You hear a few labored breaths from upstairs as Valais collects her wits. "Excellent! You have destroyed more of Thurl's creations. I knew you could do this!"
"Now, if I remember right... we can travel west or east from here. The west is a storage room, while the east... hmm... it's the rest of the labratory."
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Mr Peppers sweats bullets as the final creation is dropped. "Praise Nethys" He whispers to himself, he tries to take a moment to collect his whits when Valais comes down the stairs. "A little warning next time may help! What were those things.." He asks as he takes the wand and does his best to activate it on Uesugi to help save time, then himself, while Tiff heals Gallix, herself, and D.
"Lets hit the lab, the most important information should be there or near by. Besides, Gallix here still has some time with those extra muscles in case we run into more of these..."
Valais shrugs. "I don't remember everything. Most of this is coming back to me as we see it...oh, there's another east/west juncture here."
"Oh my, when did the eastern tunnel get so wet? And filthy, for that matter?" Curiosity overtakes her, for a brief moment. "I think the library is to the west?"
Gallix continues searching west, with Valais guarding your rear(?)
The walls of this room are lined with steel bookshelves bolted into the polished stone. Books rest comfortably against each other, each given ample room to be removed without risk of damaging the contents within. Two black leather chairs next to the western wall are positioned around an ostentatious wooden table supporting a single glass tumbler. There are two identical, reinforced wooden doors along the western wall.
Even a quick glance at the titles indicates a dedication to obscene Abyssal rituals. Several anatomy books describe how to perform surgeries on a variety of creatures. You even catch decades of tables that resemble shopkeeper's ledgers.
Thurl has experimented for years in the creation of Abyssal hybrids.
His usual method involves dissecting demon corpses, sewing pieces back together, soldering and animating them with essence derived from Abyssal larvae, and often discarding imperfect creations.
Annotations and notes scattered across a dozen volumes reference how he has:
"devised a technique to rival the creative power of Lamashtu’s womb,"
"gone beyond the limited theories he purchased from Asylnn"
"discovered how to harness the power of the marilith"
The ledgers obtained track the price of Abyssal larvae and the souls of those condemned to the Abyss. These are valuable goods on the planar market. It's clear Thurl actively participated in the larvae trade.
Valais seems to be very quiet, focusing on herself and in deep contemplation.
Several drawers in the bottom of the southern bookshelf contain 20 bottles of fine liquor as well as several potions for emergency use:
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On the way to the "library," Tiffany is consumed in thought. At some point, she reaches into her bag and pulls out her signature super shiny prismatic crystal.
The boys think they're so tough with their swords and flying sand and punches, argh! I'll show them!
She stops in place and shouts at the ceiling. "HEY! Ranginori! Like, can you lend me some power? Please?" A bolt of lightning pierces through the concrete, striking the grippli in the head. A deep glow envelops her and a whirlwind of dust picks up seemingly out of thin air. A subtle whisper shoots through the basement. Child of the swamp, please accept this offering as repayment of your glory in Iovo. The dust dies down, and her glow fades.
She turns to Gallix, a coy grin on her froggy face, and nonchalantly adds "Pretty cool, huh?"
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"Yeah, books are totally not my thing," Tiffany says, shutting one with emphasis.
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Tiffany examines the bottles, checking her reflection out as she holds each one up to her face.
"Ahem. We've got Magic Fang, Greater Magic Weapon, Cat's Grace, Fox's Cunning, and last, but certainly not least, CuuuUuuure Moderate Wounds! Get 'em while they're hot! Oh, except, can I have the Magic Fang one? Please? The yellow liquid really highlights my eyes."
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Mr Peppers ignores the back and forth banter on the way to the library, his mood pretty sour at this point. Once at the library his long ears perk up just a bit as his eyes glow blue while he looks around the room. "Be careful, if there's lots of important information here then its likely to be protected with clever magic and traps.. or both."
He begins to chastise Tiffany when she starts rummaging through the potions but cuts himself short when he sees she does indeed know what she's talking about. "Very well."
Once he deems things safe he has a look at the books
Mr Peppers spends quite a long time reading through this book and than, going back to another book and shaking his head often. "Miss Cup would have a field day here... this man, is involved in some seriously heinous stuff here. We need to take a few of these books with us as proof." He then goes about showing the others what he's found.
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"Pretty cool, Tiff,"[/b[ Gallix replied to the grippli, nodding his approval, [b]"One time the Vudran monkey god gave me and Uesugi some pretty cool climbing skills. Remember that, buddy?"
Entering the room, Gallix peruses the collection of tomes, checking to see if the linguistic skills he learned from Sirettis and Cup will help at all.
The party make several grisly insights in this library. It's clear Thurl knew a lot about the the creation of abyssal hybrids, and a particular interest in abyssal hybrids. There are deeper insights to be gleaned from this research, but not today.
Continuing your investigation, you enter the Northwest room. Valais tags along, complimenting your Pathfinder work along the way.
The walls here are polished and smooth, unlike the stone block construction elsewhere. The floor bears a strange symbol of concentric circles and compass-like stars, and the entire carving glows with a steady, red light. Writing covers much of the walls, some of it in dark blue charcoal and the rest in deep red paint. A shallow tray along the north wall holds several sticks of steel-gray chalk.
The writing on the walls is in Abyssal.
One section of the written conversation in particular seems different from the others. It is also written in Abyssal.
One is written in a dark blue chalk, while the other is written in blood-red ink.
The contact I told you about warned me that dark days are coming for Nerosyan. He has advised me to leave in all haste.
And you believe him?
I have little choice. I have much to gain by acting on this knowledge and everything to lose if it’s true.
You are so quick to trust someone you have only known for a matter of months— especially one such as he.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say you sound jealous. Heh.
My sisters would take offense at your calling me jealous, and even I believe you are taking liberties. I value our relationship, rune- carved one, so I tell you this free of charge. Even if you follow his advice, guard yourself well. You are preparing to abandon your cover, and your so-called friends are known to dislike being duped.
Trust me. I know. I heard what happened in Varisia. Look, I know what I’m doing, and I think I can trust this one. He doesn’t lie all of the time, you know.
Exactly. He tells the truth often enough to make you believe his other lies.
And if he is lying, I’ll lock him up for another ten thousand years. Just remember our bargain. If I don’t find those reagents waiting for me in the usual place, we’ll have words.
But of course, Thurl. You know how to contact me.
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Uesugi nods as the barbarian mentions the blessing they received from the Monkey god. As they step into the library Uesugi looks to D. while the others look over the room.
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Mr Peppers comes up next to Tiffany and pauses to read over the chalk board as well "You're right. Definitely a summoning circle, and definitely in Abyssal. If you all give me a few minutes I can translate it. Luckily I decided to learn it after our stay in Saringallow. Looks like that time is paying dividends."
He takes a seat and pulls out his journal to work through the words a bit, translating them into his book as he goes. After about 10 minutes he finishes and reads them back to the others. "Sorry, I haven't put much effort into the language in a while now, luckily the basics were still fresh enough in my memory, here we go..."
Once he's finished he explains what should be evident from the discussion. "Looks like this chalk board is a communication device with the person/thing he was buying those larvae from... and it looks like he sure knew something was going on in Nerosyan. I don't feel comfortable trying to communicate with this hag if we can help it."
Mister Peppers knows Night Hags are not native, but otherwise he's drawing a complete blank.
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Uesugi grumbles after Mr. Peppers relays the writing on the board. "Oni are not to be trusted. Their ends are always selfish. Shall we communicate with this creature if it is safe or shall we move on? It is likely that this oni will know where Thurl might be. If we communicate we should be prepared. Mr. Peppers can you provide my blade with the shugenja blessings."
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"Yeah, I'm thinking you probably couldn't lie your way out of a paper bag, Peppers, so maybe let's let the hag alone. I'd take over if I knew the language. I know some Infernal - just what a street rat in Cheliax might pick up, mind you, so mostly just curse words - but I'm clueless on Abyssal. Let's move on."
The party decides to leave the room alone and move on.
Glass cases, each a three-foot cube, line the walls of this L-shaped five-foot-wide stone hallway. Each sealed alcove contains the slowly wriggling form of what appears to be an oversized insect larva that has a vaguely humanoid head wrinkled in pain.
Valais stares at the larvae, deep in thought. "These things...this is what happened to me? I am made of these larvae.” she whispers. "Do I have human blood anymore? Am I...still a Pathfinder?"
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"These must be the larvae he purchased and worked with. Killing them 'should' release its essence to the Positive Energy Plane, likely destroying their soul... likely." Mr Peppers looks to the others "Maybe destroying them would be the best idea for both them and ourselves?"
He takes out his journal to take notes on what they find in the room and let the others make the decision and do the deed.
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D. sees the VC starting to panic.
Uesugi's words were accurate, but they might not have gotten through properly.
"Listen up.", he says with an inquisitor's stare, "Your place in the organization is defined by what you do. One can mope in a corner, getting nowhere, OR, you face your great challenge head on with the intent of emerging victoriously, and get recognition from both yourself and others. Deeds matter, appearance isn't everything."
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Tiffany shows no shame in being intrigued in the larvae. "At first I was like 'Yum, looks like dinner to me!' but then I saw their faces and I was like 'EwwwWww, gross'! We should put these things out of their misery. I mean, once they lose their heads, the rest of them look just like my favorite delicacy!"
Valais nods and seems to regain her wits as the party prepares to destroy the larvae.
Each alcove is tightly sealed by the thick glass case, and opening a case requires unlatching several clasps around the door’s perimeter. As you open the clasps and open the case, the larva decompresses painfully and quickly. Each larva writhes in pain and attempts to burst from the container, screeching its displeasure as it swells to its original size, bursts at the seams, and dies over the course of 10 seconds.
After cleaning themselves of the mess, the party heads southward.
The popping and fizzing of bubbling liquid echoes throughout this rectangular chamber. To the west, a platform towers fifteen feet over the rest of the room. A steel grate extends from this platform like a bridge to a large metal cauldron suspended by rusty chains above the floor. Steep steps descend around support pillars to the level below and a pair of iron doors to the east.
"This is. This is where I woke up. Thurl said, 'It seemed like you wanted to learn what I was up to, Pathfinder. Think of this as the first step in teaching you. Ah, but your growth is not yet done.' He then threw me in one of those vats, where you fought those... things." Valais seems to be more calm.
As you scan the top vat, you see what seems to be a pair of grotesque noses sticking out, sniffing around. Are they trying to hide?