Juliver can't think of anything clever to point out about the enemies you have fought a few times, so she just uses the wand on her own dehydrated self.
Aine's bow rises as she dodges to one side in a low cat stance. Arrows sprout from the daemon torso almost as soon as they leave her quiver. Aine finally drops the first of the daemons, then is able to shoot one of the incoming fiends.
Zaine takes careful aim at the demon in Tulip's jaws and fires.
Tulip slams the demon onto the ground, pinning him with a foot and tearing at him with her jaws. The combination of lead and teeth finally do in the the fiend who turns to slag in Tulip's jaw.
Sasha also finishes off the urdefhan she was slicing last round and turns her blades on the other fiend at her back.
Once again, Faith casts a spell on himself, healing somewhat, then lays into the remaining urdefhan with a cheerfully-glowing Cherish. "I can keep this up all day," he says. Faith may be able to keep it up all day, but his opponent clearly can not as he falls to Faith's second strike.
The fiends flank the general out of time, swords fly. Only a single attack manages to get past Shae's defenses.
The flying pair softens up the group by sending the force missiles into the large dinosaur before flying into melee with Faith. Both bite into Faith.
The last of the vampires near the mass of the group flurries at Sasha, accepting his death and living in it.
With a few heavy blows, Shae bloodies and kills the vampire flanking him. Its body follows its friends down to the ruins below.
Pakshee, unable to get to Faith yet, continues to heal Tulip.
"Hey you," Zaine says to one of the demons attacking Faith. "You're mine."
He fires at that same demon.
Tulip grabs that demon with her massive jaws and crunches his bones.
grab
Áine drops down to provide an additional flanking option for Sasha so she can go for either the vampire or the flying fox faced fiend. She lets loose all her firepower into the closer flying daemon flanking Faith.
Faith nods his head at the fiends. "Prepare yourselves," he says, leaving Cherish to imply strongly what they should prepare for.
Juliver slides off the carpet ready to use the healing wand once the last urdefhan is dropped.
Áine drops down to provide an additional flanking option for Sasha so she can go for either the vampire or the flying fox faced fiend. She lets loose all her firepower into the closer flying daemon flanking Faith.
"Hey you," Zaine says to one of the demons attacking Faith. "You're mine."
He fires at that same demon.
Tulip grabs that demon with her massive jaws and crunches his bones.
Sasha's blades cut into the last vampire near the group, but she also comes close to slicing into her own flesh when a parry goes bad.
Faith nods his head at the fiends. "Prepare yourselves," he says, leaving Cherish to imply strongly what they should prepare for. Clearly the one *not* in Tulip's mouth wasn't prepared, because Cherish finishes off the fiend swiftly and with no remorse.
On the away side, the two urdefhan shift to again have flanking on the Azlant general. Even with their quickly fleeting numerical advantage, they do not land a blow.
Seeing the futility of trying to cast while in the t-rex jaws, the fiend turns to claws and teeth. They come close to finding breaks in Tulip's impressive armor, but fail.
Between the dehyrating attacks and the growing slashes... and the vampire's desperation to do *something*, Sasha goes down in a bleeding heap. And the vampire continues to hit her as she falls.
Shae continues his bloody work, dropping another urdefhan.
Seeing Sasha fall, Pakshee casts a spell then runs up to touch the ranger. Sasha remains on the ground.
"Juliver?" Áine says, more suggestion that doesn't have to be made then the question it might sound like. Her face is a mask of grim concentration focusing on the vampire near the fallen ranger and Pakshee.
Faith casts a spell, heals himself somewhat, turns to Sasha, bends down, and casts a spell on her.
"Tell me she's alive, Pakshee!" Zaine calls, the worry not quite buried under the rage.
[ooc]Dead Shot[/dice]
Tulip stomps over to the same vampire and chomps on him.
grab
Pakshee looks over her shoulder at Zaine's shout, hands still on the bloody redhead. She doesn't say a word.
But she shakes her head, just a little when Juliver runs over with the wand.
"Juliver?" Áine says, more suggestion that doesn't have to be made then the question it might sound like. Her face is a mask of grim concentration focusing on the vampire near the fallen ranger and Pakshee. But before she has a chance to fire her bow...
Zaine takes careful aim at the vampire who dropped Sasha and fires. The bullet drops the urdefhan damaged by Sasha's sword.
Tulip stomps over to the same vampire and chomps on his dead form, turning him to paste.
Sasha is still.
Faith casts a spell, heals himself somewhat, turns to Sasha, bends down, and casts a spell on her. She comes up groping for the swords she dropped.
The final urdefhan swings at the Shae, a single lucky blow landing when the cyclops is distracted by the disposition of his rescuers.
The final daemon stumbles back, free from the dinosaurs jaws and holds up his hands and waves of heat eminate from him washing over the group.
Shae continues his bloody work, dropping the final urdefhan.
Pakshe now looks up at Zaine and Tulip looming over them, "She not dead." As she casts a heal spell on the still very wounded ranger. Who now has lots of blood on her but no wounds.
Zaine gives Pakshee a grateful nod. "I'll kiss you later, Pepper. Soon as I kill this guy."
Tulip bites the final demon, cutting skin and crushing bone, but unable to get a good grip.
grab
"Good work Faith. Pakshee." Áine says, obvious relief tinging her words, "All right. You, I am tired of." She turns her arrows, heavily laced with arcane energy on the last daemon. They punch through his armored hide, turning him into a daemon sized pin cushion. Not so sadly, he does not survive the experience.
Faith steps to the daemon, and attacks.
Zaine gives Pakshee a grateful nod. "I'll kiss you later, Pepper. Soon as I kill this guy."
Pakshee points at Faith, clearly giving credit to the priest.
"Kill then kiss, proper order." Sasha says as her eyes dart around for still active combatants.
Juliver reaches over and uses the wand for a healing on Pakshee... just in case.
"Good work Faith. Pakshee." Áine says, obvious relief tinging her words, "All right. You, I am tired of." She turns her arrows, heavily laced with arcane energy on the last daemon. They punch through his armored hide, turning him into a daemon sized pin cushion. Not so sadly, he does not survive the experience.
Tulip bites down on where the daemon was, only getting broken arrow shafts as the fiend's body sifts to sand.
There is a pause as you check around for more enemies but there is a natural quiet in the ruins. The water in the morass of a culvert below ripples and burps.
Juliver straightens after a moment, "Faith, do you want to look at getting the morlocks out of the keep-calm trap while Pakshee does some patch up?"
"There has to be a way for them to retrieve the morlocks without falling under the sway of their own enchantment," Faith says, and goes to investigate the keep-calm trap from a closer distance and with more time.
Áine's eyes mostly follow Faith while she waits to recover from the horribly debilitating dryness of the daemons dark magics. Occasionally, they flick to the even larger form of the General.
True to his word, when the last monster falls, Zaine climbs down from Tulip and wraps Sasha up in a relieved embrace.
"Maybe the next time you're about to fall, you pull back to Pakshee?" he suggests.
"There has to be a way for them to retrieve the morlocks without falling under the sway of their own enchantment," Faith says, and goes to investigate the keep-calm trap from a closer distance and with more time.
Pakshee, once she is certain everyone is patched up - just in case of more attacks - moves over in Faith's direction.
However, the urdefhan do not have flight. Ergo there must be a way to bypass the trap for them to be able to go into the pen and collect the stoned-out morlock that they want to sacrifice.
Normal symbol of persuasion spells last 10 min per caster level, but the way the serpentfolk magic is built into the base assumptions of this place, you would suspect that the effect is ongoing while they are in the pen - although it would likely have the normal duration of 200 minutes once they are removed.
Granted, just outright destroying the pen and the gate would also allow the effect to wear off.
True to his word, when the last monster falls, Zaine climbs down from Tulip and wraps Sasha up in a relieved embrace.
"Maybe the next time you're about to fall, you pull back to Pakshee?" he suggests.
Sasha leans into Zaine, nods. "I thought I could keep him to just one hit." A pause, "I was wrong and I'll seek help sooner next time, promise."
Pakshee, once she is certain everyone is patched up - just in case of more attacks
"Thank you, Pakshee." Áine says gratefully after she is again made whole.
"and thank you for taking care of the second group of urdefhan, General Shae. There strikes can be debilitating. Can we assist with your injuries as well?"[B]"I have a lesser restoration potion and a Cure Moderate Wounds wand if you'd prefer to conserve your healing for combat with the snakes and more immediate needs." she continues in an aside to the healer.
"There must be a way for urdefhan to safely bypass this trap since they cannot fly," Faith says, after studying it for some while. "We could remove the morlocks by air, and the effect will wear off over time."
He shrugs. "But easiest would be to simply destroy the gate and the pen, especially this part here," Faith points to one spot, then a second, "and this part over here."
"Something less elegant than a dagger would be ideal. I can call forth something stompy to assist if there are no better suggestions."
"Mithral is pretty tough. And getting through solid objects with ranged weapons is not ideal, but could be done, I think...Let's see... Well, I know we found some adamantine weapons. Do we have any of those available?", Áine considers for a moment, "I don't have adamantine arrow heads, but I do have an Abundant Ammunition spell," she fingers one of the wands sticking out of her hip quiver, "so I guess I can see how hitting the same point repeatedly works, if you guys want to try that. Since there are several spots we are working on, I can give one a try and see what happens." she pauses again, "Are you sure you want to destroy it though? We could just fly them over the wall and then it could be used by the Morlocks potentially for Serpents, Urdefhan or other undesirable elements, if needed. Do we want to make sure it can't be used again?"
Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Round 4:
It doesn't happen for a while as she hugs Zaine but eventually Sasha does dig out the adamantine machete from her bag of holding. "I don't have the muscle mass to destroy items, but someone else is welcome to use this."
"Adamantine," Faith slaps himself on the forehead. "It's new, I forgot about it."
Faith pulls out an adamantine dagger and goes to work on the gate.
If Faith were trying to destroy the entirety of the mithril gate it would take ages - even with the dagger that cuts through metal as if it were butter - however Faith doesn't need to destroy the entire gate, he only needs to destroy the gate in the right place to affect the glyph carved into the inner surface which centers the passivation.
Five strikes in the exact same point of the gate, so that the dagger pierces through the 2-inch wide metal and breaks a line of the glyph. The chained magic explodes out with that one break, knocking Faith back from the gate and down, even with the ripple weakening as it spreads out all of the affected morlocks are thrown to the ground. Many of them stay there not caring enough to move, but one - likely one of the longer prisoners based on his gaunt form - pushes up, looking around in confusion. You can see the moment he realizes where he is with the widening of terror in his eyes as he bolts to climb over the mithril wires between the snakestone pillars.
"Hey, you okay Big Guy?" Áine asks as she moves to give the war-priest a hand up.
She then heads over the wall to see about getting the morlocks out of the pen. "Hey, can we get this door open or is it too far gone now? I can help if you need it." she asks before dropping over the top, the to the morlocks inside, "Let's get you all home, shall we?"
She offers a hand and a ride to anyone that seems aware enough to take it, and is more then willing to carry out those who are completely out of it.
Later, she pauses, "Hey, wait a minute. Mithral wire? I wonder if we should cut this with the machete and bring it with us? Might be useful later."
The only damage to the gate is the carefully placed hole, so it opens easily to allow the group to enter the holding pen - without the pacification effect that still enthralls the remaining fourteen morlocks. Aine, Juliver and anyone else who tries is able to lead the docile morlocks from the pen, just as they must have been when the urdefhan took them to be sacrificed. Slowly over the course of then next few hours the morlocks shake loose from the magical sedation. Some are scared, some are angry, most are grateful.
Once the morlocks have been truly freed, the group is able to help those who want the assistance to move across the underground city to the corner controlled by the morlocks.
Then you are able to teleport back up to the ancient Azlanti city which you discovered. The group is nearly ambushed by the Pathfinders with a plethora of questions when they realize the cyclops accompanying you was alive in the early seeds of the Azlanti Empire.
In the next day or so, those who are interested travel south to the Artisan District. The Tribe of the Sacred Serpent greets you warmly, Osond quickly coming out to greet his friends who freed his people from the nasty plague which had been spread by the feral vampire.
"I am well, just startled," Faith accepts Áine's hand up with a smile.
Faith accompanies the group to the Artisan District. "It is good to see you," he says to Osond, "although we come with a warning and a request for help."
"One day perhaps our visit will bring unalloyed joy, but today is not that day."
"Aye." Áine says, her smile welcoming, though a fleeting shadow of worry crosses her features as Faith speaks, hinting of potentially great problems, but not yet willing to get straight to the point. "It is good to see both you and your people doing well."
Faith accompanies the group to the Artisan District. "It is good to see you," he says to Osond, "although we come with a warning and a request for help."
"One day perhaps our visit will bring unalloyed joy, but today is not that day."
"You've brought far more good to us than ill, friend," the druid says after he greets each person - human and animal. One of his bushed eyebrows raises, "Warning?" His teeth show in a nervous grin, "Better to not be caught unawares."
His brow furrows, "If it is a favor I can grant, you need only ask."
Faith is willing to go straight to the point. "The serpents stir," he says. "They threaten to overtake the world in an avalanche--"
Faith pauses, searching for a more tropical metaphor. "An inundation of evil. We seek to strike at them before their plan can be put into motion."
His expression turns dark as he contemplates what he is saying. "They seek to resurrect their dark God."
His expression clears slightly and he continues to the next logical step. "We will stop them. We seek allies."
"The ancient Serpentfolk." Áine expounds, "a few have stirred, coming out of hibernation, and the numbers they would have join them are legion. They already have an army of their less enlightened but stronger brethren. We can beat them if we can act soon enough, but as Faith says,we will need help if we are to keep our people's safe."
"We will be looking to see if we can't get some more assistance from other allies we have made, but anything your people can provide would be most appreciated. As I believe Faith would concur; Evil, especially that with plans of world conquest, cannot be allowed to spread uncontested, and ideally should be eliminated."
Osond nods, "From the seriousness of your tone, I do not think you mean serpentfolk like those that dwelled on the island," he nods north to the body of the lake and the governmental district island in the middle. "Those were dumb brutes, dangerous and vicious, but I can not see them threatening the world."
The worn head speaker for the Tribe looks conflicted and he motions for everyone to walk with him. Once you are out of the press of the tribe, he smiles sadly. "If the choice were mine, I would gather all of us who can fight and do so proudly under the banner of friends who have freed us from plague and terror."
He looks, catching each person's eyes, so that you can see the sincerity of his words, "And regardless of what she says, I will fight for you and some of my people will choose to help but," he shakes his head, "the tribe will not move in full force without Radiant Muse's command."
"I am so sorry, friends. We owe you so much and I do not know if she will again throw a task to gain her approval." You notice that his path is leading north to the pyramid where Radiant Muse was carving statues when you last met her.
"So we should bring this up with Radiant Muse," Zaine says, nodding. "I'm sure that she'll listen to reason, or give us an inconvenient quest."
"Of course we will consult her in this matter," Faith assures Osond. "It would be foolish of us to attempt to bypass her."
Faith shrugs. "She will help, or she will not. The sun comes up tomorrow, and Evil will be eliminated."
He claps his hands together and rubs them in anticipation. "So much Evil to be eliminated...."
Osond breathes out, sad but relieved. "I do not know why I thought you would not understand but you are true friends."
He claps Faith on a shoulder, "I should have known," he taps his own chest, "that you are better friends than that." He smiles at Zaine, "Those who go to Radiant Muse to learn how to carve have come back with stories of heroes so she well may be in a good mood."
As with the previous time that he led you to the winged outside, Osond only goes most of the way, leaving you to finish the journey to the ancient creature by yourself. When you get to her pyramid, you see Radiant Muse up at the top, her wings in movement to keep her suspended in mid-air as she delicately works with chisel and hammer.
Faith keeps an eye on the Radiant Muse as the group ascends, while also looking out for her pets. Tripping over a basilisk is not on his agenda.
Before ascending, Áine casts Aspect of the Nightingale, just in case a tiny bit extra might help.
Faith doesn't spot tail nor tooth of a basklisk, although her pets generally live in the ancient Ullamaliztli court that lays deeper in the ruins. Radiant Muse seem to be deeply focused on her work, utterly unaware of the group as they ascend into the air. Her chisel is smoothing out a woman's face on the northfaceing side of the pyramid, a woman armed with spear and shield.
Clearly intentionally waiting for the group to make the first move.
"That is truly exquisite stone work." Áine says softly, as much to Faith, Pakshee and the others as to Radiant Muse herself as they draw within easy conversational distance. "It must take a really long time to get her features so precise and smooth."
"The craftsm-- craftwork is indeed," Faith says. He gives the statue a good look-over from the polite distance Áine stopped at, squatting down to peer up at "sculpture" and "sculptor" from a slightly different angle.
Only Radiant Muse's head turns, just enough that her gaze can bore into the mid-air group. "Do any of you practice a craft, give something of yourself to the world?"
"A few," Zaine says. "Though I'm not especially good at any of them."
Áine hesitates, but responds similarly, "Nothing of lasting significance, no. I believe Desna and Ketephys, being nomadic in nature, teach us to see beauty in the growth and flourishing of the natural world around us and living things and to protect it from the evil that would turn it to ash." After a slight pause, she decides to add, "I think we may have an artist in the group in the way you mean, but it is certainly not me."
Her head cocks to the side, the bones of her neck allowing for movement more avian than human, she blinks. "You came here before, asked me for something?" There is a slight blankness in the eyes.
"Do you come here for another favor?"
"Yes and no," Zaine says. "A favor, a small one, but we're more about making common cause with you and your subjects. See, the serpent people want to bring about the end of the world. We're against that, and we would imagine you are too. The problem is, there's an army of these snakes between us and the evil wizard who is doing it. Now, I'd normally be happy to shoot my way through, but I only have so much powder and shot. I'd run out of it before the wizard runs out of snakes. So what we need is an army to attack the front while we go in from the back and take out the leader. Your people would be willing to fight, but need your permission, your command to do so. So that's what we're asking for: you to give that permission, issue that order, so that all of us can save this world."
"You want the humans in my tribe to follow your orders, to fight, to die so you have an easier path to the leader?' Radiant Muse says.
There is a long, long pause. Then, in a seeming nonsequitor, Radiant Muse continues. "Everything that the Tribe knows, that they create, they learned from me. Nothing new to inspire, to create better." She smiles, although the twist in it is partially feral. "Tell me what you craft, what you can bring to make them more than they are, make them stronger even if you let many of them die."
"That's an accurate, if not entirely fair assessment," Zaine says. "If you want me to make something that will help your people survive, may I present Daredevil."
He holds up the musket. "Now, I didn't make her. She's been in the Kildare family for three generations or so. But I can make weapons like her. Nothing easier to use than a musket, and nothing so dangerous as massed musketeers. I can make black powder explosives. Hells, I can make cannons if given the time."
He cocks the musket sights down and fires. "The crack of lightning and the roll of thunder, chased by the smell of brimstone as we send these snakes back to the hell that birthed 'em. So if I have the time, I can make the weapons. If not, I can turn out some good explosives that'll knock down enemy defenses..." Zaine's expression gets a little distant and dreamy. "I could have Zaira make a trebuchet. We could fling barrels of powder packed with shrapnel..."
Faith frowns for a moment. "When we first met, you called yourself the last guardian of Saventh-Yhi. I didn't think to ask guardian against what."
He sighs, then nods sharply. "Your question is a fair one. Do your people fish? I can teach them how, which will make them stronger, even if it does not add an object of physical beauty, such as a musket or trebuchet."
"...I could teach them to live with nature and their surroundings, work together with what they already have here, should they have that desire." Áine pauses for a moment, considering before adding, "The Forest remembers, even if people do not."