Sasha looks at the water, rubbing her shin against the calf of the other leg. A small glace up at the vine choked sinkhole, then she shakes her head. "They definitely got my blood." She looks at Aine, "Maybe a little of yours when they tagged your carpet. And they have a nasty good mind for scents, better in the water granted, but good period. Hate to draw them to our camp or worse to the sculpters with so many of their number down with that undead's pestilence."
"Pakshee," she says "If you can heal Tulip at range like you do Faith, it would be good. She's going to take some damage once we hit the water and it's be better if she ignores the piranha and goes for the nisps." Paskshee looks through her bag until she find a vial of golden ink, which she uses to paint a bracelet on herself and Tulip.
And the party can hit the mostly submerged hallway.
The bites aren't instantaneous with the fish carcasses littering the water and drawing off the living, but it still stings. Pakshee holds back, ready to do the healing type thing.
You are able to move through the water quickly, although Tulip has to squeeze a bit in the tight width of the corridor. As you get to the end you see a mostly fallen chamber with a much higher ceiling still intact and the sides a good sixty feet away whole except for the shattered hole where water flows out of the swamp. Fungi high on the walls glows dimly making the world a play of shadows.
Aine and Tulip feel a pressure on their minds. Both must make a DC 19 Will save vs Hold Monster.
"Faith? Don't suppose you have any Blessings left in you, do you?"
Áine asks, "Anything you got could be a big help." she says
Áine casts Air Bubble on a weapon of Zane's choosing. It will last for 9 minutes.
Perception
Zaine
Tulip
Zaine twitches his heels, causing Tulip to move.
Ride check instead of a save
Initiative
Zaine
Tulip
"I can't see them!" Zaine protests.
Tulip squawks and makes a beeline for the tasty nisps.
Tulip squawks again.
"Oh, there they are." Zaine raises his musket and shoots.
Aine's carpet moves towards the ceiling at it's first chance, giving the archer a safty margin that the others in the group don't have.
Zaine twitches his heels, causing Tulip to move. Breaking her concentration just enough that she isn't entranced by the fey's spell.
"I can't see them!" Zaine protests.
Tulip squawks and makes a beeline for the tasty nisps.
Tulip squawks again.
"Oh, there they are." Zaine raises his musket and shoots. There is no boom, only metal striking metal.
However, the failed shot still gives the adjecent nisp a chance to lash out at the gunslinger. ()
Sasha swims through the water, steadily moving towards the nisp that attacked Zaine, but not as quick as the large Tulip.
Tulip takes a bite at the nearest nisp.
grapple
Áine's carpet hovers over the nisp that Tulip and Zane are attacking, firing down into the water when the opportunity presents itself.
Another barrage of arrows, then Áine's carpet moves to hovers over the nisp that Tulip and Zane are attacking, ready to fire down into the water when another opportunity presents itself.
Zaine curses and clears the jam, reloading the musket as well.
Tulip takes a bite at the nearest nisp. She manages to sink teeth into the fey's shoulder, but the creature twists at the last moment and Tulip makes a keening sound of disgust at the wrong fish taste of the blood.
Sasha kicks harder at the water, almost in range to attack.
Zaine takes careful aim and fires.
Tulip snaps her huge jaws on the nisp.
grapple
Áine's arrows continue to thunk into exposed fish flesh or slice through the water. A few bob back up to the surface.
The final fey lashes out at the 'defenseless' gunslinger, its sharp claws rending metal and flesh.
Áine's arrows continue to thunk into exposed fish flesh or slice through the water but the frenzied attack makes it hard to hit. A few bob back up to the surface.
Zaine takes careful aim, opening himself up for another hit () which misses, and fires. The bullet proves to be just enough with the arrows and the bite from Tulip.
Tulip backs away from the not-right-fish flesh of the dead fey which start to sink into the muck of the room.
Sasha finishes the swim, only to pull up onto the airwalking Tulip to avoid the nips and bites of the remaining predatory fish. She sucks air through her teeth at the viciousness of the slashes in Zaine's armor. "Think I should be in the front line so they don't think to attack the dinosaur rider."
The nest of the nisps is decorated with all manner of treasure that has been thrown into the cenote over the years. Gold ingots, a patinated copper statuette of an Azlanti dancer, a gold and ivory brooch in the shape of a nautilus, a pair of coral armbands, a magical ring inscribed with Azlanti runes, and three blue crystals which glow only when you touch them, the light forming around a rune embedded in the body of the crystal.
The single rune - identical in each of the crystals - is the Rune representing Abundance.
"That..could have gone worse." Áine says, releasing a long breath, then glances at Zaine's wounds and winces slightly.
She looks over the items in the nest, "The ring has an Azlanti rune of Protection. The rune in the three blue crystals is Abundance."
Zaine grins at the redhead. "Yeah, but then I'd just end up worrying about you." He swoons a bit on Tulip's back. "Okay, I think I've lost a lot of blood here."
With the discovery of the treasure, Zaine squints at the runes."I don't mean to gainsay you, but that's the Abundance rune. It's an empowerment of an entire school of magic. Those things might be batteries for a magical machine." Zaine swoons again. "I might need to lie down."
"No harm done," Faith says to Zaine (and also Pakshee).
"Allow me to restore some blood to your body there," Faith casts a spell, and touches Zaine on the shoulder.
"No harm done," Faith says to Zaine (and also Pakshee).
"Allow me to restore some blood to your body there," Faith casts a spell, and touches Zaine on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Faith. I think I was running out there."
With the discovery of the treasure, Zaine squints at the runes."I don't mean to gainsay you, but that's the Abundance rune. It's an empowerment of an entire school of magic. Those things might be batteries for a magical machine."
"So, like, the spires or something that leads to them then?"
"So, like, the spires or something that leads to them then?"
"Could be," Zaine says, nodding. "This whole lost city is supposed to have some big secret. It's possible we stumbled on half of it."
By the time the group has scoured the nisp lair and returned to the surface, the sun has set and their world is lit only by the near full moon and plethora of stars. Despite the darkness they get early warning of the approach of a huge group of boggard - first from Zephyr skimming the air above then by the sharp ears of the group's ranger, then by Tulip's chirped warning. Reporting from Zephyr's vantage, Sasha says the group is over fifty, likely most of the adults of the tribe.
The boggards emerge slowly from the jungle trees, clearly taking in the decaying mound of the frogemoth. The resonant sound of croaks and calls indicates the tribe is communicating in their own tongue even as they approach the group. The leader is a wide and muscled boggard adorned with skulls and gems. Across his shoulders, held in his left hand, is a giant crystal falchion.
When there is only open ground between you and he, the chieftain pauses. Loudly, so his voice carries to all of his people,
Faith casts his mind back, trying to remember exactly what it was the boggart shaman was doing. Then he gives up, curls his hands into a makeshift megaphone, and calls back, Faith calls.
"He hung around with a bad crowd, too." Áine nods, with a slight smile. "I'm happy to see, unlike him, you don't seem to be overly fond of associating with the undead."
The boggard chieftain ribbets.
The chieftain takes three strides forward, the sword still in the resting position on his shoulders, though the flesh over the joints whitens as he tightens his grip. Still loudly, but now directed to the group, "Now that you've killed the first of our chieftain in his second life, will you work to slaughter the rest of us?"
"We're not going to kill anyone unless we're attacked," Zaine says easily.
”The debt is paid,” Faith adds.
The boggard chieftain ribbets.
"If you consider the Voice of the Swamp a spirit, I suppose you are right." a small smile plays across her lips, "He answered to Tentagard, by the way." Áine comments easily from atop her carpet, positioned just above and to the left of Faith. She watches the Boggard leader and the rest of his tribe, playing with the fletchings of two arrows held in the same hand as her bow, but not yet nocked. Her eyes begin to visibly glow in the moonlight.
The boggard chief leans back on his haunches in surprise. "Tentagard can not be a voice in the swamp, he is the head in the jar - a gift trapped by the first of us."
He makes a grumbling noise deep in his throat, his bulging eyes taking in the dead bulk of the froghemoth. "I was going to ask to find Ugimmo, to prove your friendship after killing it that had been first." A croak that is picked up by the tribe until it echos in the darkness, "You have left us vulnerable to enemies so it seems only fair to ask you to make us safe from one of those who hurt us."
He motions east and west, "There is one in each of the valleys next to us, a winged snake whose gaze turns the brave to stone and a man-lizard who takes my people alive as blood sacrifice to his praying god."
"This is fair, yes?"
"Sounds fair enough to me." Áine looks to Faith and the others for confirmation, "I'm willing to go take a look and see what's there." she says, "in exchange, no attacking the Pathfinders and Pirates that came with us, 'kay?" she gestures vaguely towards all of the area that the Pathfinders might already be exploring, again looking to the rest of the group for anything they might add.
Zaine gives a curt nod.
The boggard chieftain nods, using one arm to motion to the horde around him - which starts to turn and file back into the jungle toward the spire. "It is a deal with Garluu. You will leave and next time you come to Garluu's land you will bring head of one who hurts us."
"If you come back without one, then you are enemy and we will fight."
He nods decidedly, but stays in place until the last of his people has vacated the area.
Once the boggards are out of earshot, and probably while the group is headed back to the Radiant Muse, Zaine says, "Sounds to me like that man-lizard is our best bet. Kidnapping people for sacrifices is something that should be stopped, and I'm not keen on instantly stabbing the Radiant Muse in the back. Of course, if she stabs us, that's a different story."
"Why would we stab the Radiant Muse in the back?" Áine asks innocently, "I mean, she seems kind of … different then I expected, but not, like, evil, I think. Dangerous yes, but not evil."
"Why would we stab the Radiant Muse in the back?" Áine asks innocently, "I mean, she seems kind of … different then I expected, but not, like, evil, I think. Dangerous yes, but not evil."
"Because the boggard just asked us to. Unless I'm interpreting 'winged snake' wrong, anyway, or there are more winged snake things in this jungle. But my point is that we shouldn't, so you and I are on the same page here. I'm saying we don't do it."
"So instead we assassinate the leader or the priest of the xulgath" Sasha blinks, once, slowly, "presumably after we confirm that he is all blood sacrifice and that wasn't Garluu playing with his version of the truth." She thinks for a minute, "Hopefully he isn't sacrificing to a god that will actually notice when the offers end."
It is late and dark by the time you get to the tribe of the Sacred Serpent but there are more guards than there had been in daylight and Osond is quickly summoned and he leads you back to Radiant Muse's temple. A number of the statues near where she chisels stone then soothes with a polishing cloth. Her movement down the face of the temple is faster, smoother. Her eyes light as she looks at the group, the glow of magic causing them to blaze on her face. After a minute her lips curve in a wide smile.
"You destroyed the undead who brought sickness." She looks at Osond, "Now you should be able to heal the tribe."
Then to the group, "Do you wish to change your boon or do we go to yours that has lost herself?"
"You destroyed the undead who brought sickness." She looks at Osond, "Now you should be able to heal the tribe."
"And me," says Zaine. "I got hit and I think I might be coming down with something."
Then to the group, "Do you wish to change your boon or do we go to yours that has lost herself?"
"Nope. Heal her, please."
"It is agreed," Faith says. "A winged snake and a man-lizard ... sounds about right."
"Because the boggard just asked us to. Unless I'm interpreting 'winged snake' wrong, anyway, or there are more winged snake things in this jungle. But my point is that we shouldn't, so you and I are on the same page here. I'm saying we don't do it."
"Oh. Huh. Yeah, I guess you're right. Completely missed that." Áine says thoughtfully. "Must be more tired then I thought."
Then to the group, "Do you wish to change your boon or do we go to yours that has lost herself?""Nope. Heal her, please."
Áine nods in concurrence.
”The boon is sound,” Faith agrees.
Radiant Muse carefully lays down her statuary tools, wrapping them in a oiled cloth before taking to the air quickly leaving the group and Osond alone to follow. By the time you get back to the ruins which house the Tribe, she is almost at the door to the isolation ward, her progress slowed as she smiles, grants a passing touch, a bit of light to her worshipers. Within the ward she moves near-silent, only the slight susurrus of scales against stone. She moves without direction from Osond, unerringly in the direction of the small room which houses the mad woman.
In the room, Radiant Muse starts to sing. So low at first that you feel the vibrations of the song rather than hear it, then slowly moving up the register until you can make out words in the song. The mad Pathfinder, slowly comes out from behind her shield, clearly entranced, swaying in time to the rhythm of the song. Radiant Muse's song rises in pitch, quickly going from painful to sub-audible, and the Pathfinder sudders and starts to fall, only to be caught by coils. Radiant Muse kisses the mad woman's forehead once as she lowers her to the ground. Turning to leave, "She will sleep tonight, her mind growing back, and will wake herself in the morning." And with that Radiant Muse leaves.
The mad Pathfinder lies on the ground, still but breathing.
Zaine touches the brim of his tricorn. "Thank you," he says to the Muse. Then, aside to Osond. "Is she going to be all right sleeping there, or do you want to move her?"
Faith takes off his hat and inclines his head to the Muse. "Grateful, madam," he says.
...although he never quite takes his eyes off her. He is wary. It's not a great look on Faith.
Zaine touches the brim of his tricorn. "Thank you," he says to the Muse.
Faith takes off his hat and inclines his head to the Muse. "Grateful, madam," he says.
...although he never quite takes his eyes off her. He is wary. It's not a great look on Faith.
There might be a slight inclination of her head in response but if so it happens so briefly as to not exist. When she leaves she meets no eyes, just slithers with a quiet and grace that is unnatural for a creature of her size.
Then, aside to Osond. "Is she going to be all right sleeping there, or do you want to move her?"
Osond considers, "She will come to no harm sleeping here," the words serious, as much a pledge as a statement. "But she has not been in her mind here, so she will not know us when she wakes." He motions to Aine, "You recognized the symbol she wears, will she feel safer surrounded by that which she knows when she wakes?"
"Or if you come back near dawn," Osond nods towards Zaine, "I should have the energy to try to lift disease from you then."
Sasha, already with her own armor off, preens Zephyr's feathers, calming him for sleep. She nods in response to Zaine, "We were off not long after dawn and dawn will be here in only a few hours, it was a long day." Her head cocks to the side, "How bad are you feeling?"
Osond considers, "She will come to no harm sleeping here," the words serious, as much a pledge as a statement. "But she has not been in her mind here, so she will not know us when she wakes." He motions to Aine, "You recognized the symbol she wears, will she feel safer surrounded by that which she knows when she wakes?"
"Good idea. We'll take her to the Pathfinders." Zaine dismounts and picks the woman up, draping her as gently as possible across Tulip's saddle.
"Or if you come back near dawn," Osond nods towards Zaine, "I should have the energy to try to lift disease from you then."
"Thank you," says Zaine. "I'll return then."
"We'll return then," Faith agrees.
"All the gods of Elysium, I reek." With a wince, she looks around the room with vivid blue eyes until they pause on the Glyph of the Open Room. Her second survey of the room is more intentional, her shoulders relaxing when she sees the symbol repeated on Glaur's armor. Only then does she seem to read the room and turn to the group.
The flash of white teeth on the dirt-matted face is startling as she smiles. "I thank you, friends, for your timely assistance." She swallows, the bright smile going shaky, "I truly do not know how long I wandered in my dazed state, but being still alive and not too far gone, despite the stench, it can not have been too long."
She nods at Glaur briefly, "My name is Juliver, from the Grand Lodge." Glaur inclines his head noncommittally, to which Juliver's smile returns just a bit, "I don't think enough of myself that you would know of me, but the leader of our expedition was Eando Kline." Glaur's reaction is brief, but notably startled.
"Eando Kline?" Glaur questions, to which Juliver nods. "A man of rare reputation." Glaur says. "I heard he had been reprimanded by the Decemvirate, gone rogue and left the Pathfinders." Glaur's voice is soft, simply relating facts with no personal judgment.
Juliver's denial breaks through the air, "Eando put the good of the civilized world ahead of a personal agenda of discovery and self-aggrandizement." She swallows, a few tears cutting clean lines down her dirty face, "And he is in the greatest of dangers and all of us, all of everyone with him."
She looks around, bright, wet blue eyes evaluating what she sees in your eyes and whatever she sees it is enough, "Eando stumbled upon a subterranean city in the far north built ages ago by a strange race of snake men. But it wasn’t a dead city;" she pauses for just a moment with a small shudder, "it was just asleep—and it was ready to wake up. The clues that Eando had been following had been laid by the serpentfolk themselves in the hope that some explorer would unwittingly stumble upon them and rouse them from their age-long slumber to rise and conquer an unprepared world." Her smile is wan, "Eando only narrowly avoided doing just that and barely escaped with his life."
Her voice darkens with anger and she almost spits the next towards Glaur, "When he reported back to the Pathfinder Society, Eando refused to publish his findings and discouraged anyone from retracing his steps, knowing the dangers if others should stumble upon that city and wake those creatures." She meets Glaur's eyes then continues, "It was for that he was ostracized from the Society."
She looks at the rest of the group, "He continued his researches on his own, and discovered something of even more immediate danger — the underground city to the north was not the only such slumbering city. Another city slept beneath Garund as well, and was already beginning to wake on its own." Her smiles comes back, "He gathered a group of us - Pathfinders he knew would want to protect the world - and we set out to stop this newly discovered threat before it could engulf the unsuspecting folk of Garund."
"Following Eando’s research, we entered certain deep caves in the Barrier Wall mountains south of Thuvia. For weeks we followed the byways of the Darklands until at last we came to this new subterranean city, called Ilmurea. Unfortunately, it was much more lively than its sister city in the north and inhabited by numerous denizens. The serpentfolk there are on some sort of mission, under the leadership of a powerful priest. They ambushed us shortly after we entered the city" she shakes her head again, tears threatening by not falling, "only I managed to escape."[/b]
"While the ambush, I found an obscure tunnel that led up and assumed it to be as good as any. The tunnel led to a chamber with a magical portal on one wall. I stepped through, hoping it would take me somewhere where I could find aid to return and free my companions, and instead found myself in an underground complex. I could hear the serpents quick on my heels, so to keep them from following me, I smashed several crystals surrounding the portal, hoping the damage would deactivate it for a time." She shakes her head, "After that everything is hazy, I think I saw one of the serpents walking even though it looked dead, with flesh rendered from bone. Instead of attacking me with claw and tooth, it began to cast some kind of spell, I think." She looks at the ground shaking her head, "But that memory feels like a dream, I don't know."
She shakes off the negative images with effort, "The portal I came through must be near where you found me, so please help me find the way back to Ilmurea, to save Eando, Vasu and Aludra." She swallows, "And even if it is too late for my friends, to stop the serpents from rising to enslave the world." Her eyes plead with a naked fervency.
Zaine listens to the formerly addled Pathfinder's lengthy statement. "Certainly seems like something we should look into," he says. "We still have a lizard-priest to deal with, although it wouldn't shock me if that was connected to this whole thing. In any case, searching for a gateway while we pacify this city shouldn't be impossible."
"Undress, please," he says. It's clear he has something in mind, but he's not saying what that might be. Yet.
Faith's eyes fill with tears at the story of a righteous man wronged in his quest to protect the world from evil.
"Evil must be opposed," he says to Juliver. "If the serpents have left a trail of evil bread crumbs, then it is my sacred duty to feed them to the ravens of righteousness."
Then his focus widens to include the room. "And as the lad says," he gestures to Zaine, "we must deal with a lizard-priest here soon. We are certain to connect these pieces if you were unsuccessful in destroying the connection between the places."
Áine nods, giving Juliver a small but supportive smile, "I will go, once we finish things here." and with a surreptitious motion of her hands gives Juliver an "instapoof" from her gloves. "Sorry I didn't think to do that earlier." she mutters under her breath, her words not intended to reach anyone else as the dirt and grime fall away from Juliver and her garments. Áine does not seen at all concerned that their may now be a grimy area within the Pathfinder's quarters.
Juliver nods with enthusiasm, despite her obviously weakened condition. She looks at Glaur, "If my fellow Pathfinders can loan me some gear, I'm ready to go."
"Give me," she considers, "a half-hour?"
She starts with the boots, causally kicking them into a corner, thenher breeches, taking time watching Zaine as she lowly loosens the ties at each hip, only then slowly letting the leather slid down her legs. Then the tunic, only going slowly as the cloth slides over abdomen, then it joins the boots in the corner. Which leaves only utilitarian underthings, quickly whisked away. She takes a deep breath as she stands bare before Zaine, the happy smile curving her lips, one eyebrow raised in question.
"What type of weapons and armor do you prefer?" Áine asks curiously.
Zaine gives her a nod. "I'm a bit eager to go see Osond, but it can wait a half hour."
"Pepper, you continue to be the most beautiful sight I've ever beheld. If I live a thousand years, I'll never get tired of just staring at you. So that's what I want to do tonight, at least for now."
He reaches up, caressing her hip and thigh. "I was thinking about that forest you told me about, where you'd watch the other assassins...loosening up. I want you to show me." He swallows. "I want you to show me how you would touch yourself while you watched."