Cleo, Wabbit, and Andreste travel back to the Kaijitsu manor for a good rest, while Janis goes to visit his favourite sex worker, Lilia, for some relief. Ameiko and Amaya are relieved to learn that everyone is safe and sound. Brelin has still been hiding in her room, but she does speak through the door. Lilia offers to give Janis a hot bath and a good scrub, with benefits of course.
Furnok and Bacon remain on site to do some searching. Bacon finds a cache hidden in a false back of a closet. There's a very large collection of coins, gems, bottles, and vials of various liquids and powders.
Investigator Jullus arrives on the scene. His knowledge of alchemy reveals that the barrels contain what is called Lye. Lye is a slow acting acid that can reduce a body to nothing within several days. The fact that these barrels can be locked shut does not bode well. After searching the rest of the location, nothing else of interest turns up.
Morning passes to afternoon, and then steadily to the beginning of evening.
----------------------------------
Saila answered Wabbit's question as such
"You could certainly write a letter. No doubt the charges will be heard by the Lord Justice Bayl Argentine. You could also testify in person. He likely faces time in the Hells, so if you think he doesn't deserve that, you better present a good case."
Janis brings up making Lilia a kept woman instead of her current work.
Cleo bakes everything in the morning, then comes to the guard station later in the day, leaving Aggah to entertain Brelin. "Good Evening Salia, I have sandwiches and scones." the halfling starts laying things out, along with honey and tea. "So what can I help with?"
Once secured and in a private room, Andreste speaks with Skrate about what he saw. She takes detailed notes on what the familiar relates.
Then, she takes to translating the notes she transcribed, making notes of the words she can't read, attempting to figure the cipher from missing words or letters.
Linguistics
Eventually, exhausted, she falls asleep at her desk. Sometime in the night, she moves over to the bed.
It is only the smells of Cleo's baking that finally roust the sleeping wizard. She cleans her face with water from a basin, brushes out her hair, changes clothes, and arrives late to breakfast.
Lilia purrs at the suggestion, but asks what being a kept woman would entail?
-----------------------
Despite not knowing one of the languages, Andreste is cracking the code at a quick pace. There will still be plenty of work to do, however.
Come morning, Cleo does some baking to raise everyone's spirits.
Furnok and Bacon prove they have massive endurance and easily complete their investigations while the others wimp out and have nappies.
So after a hard night's work they mosey back home and get some shut eye, proud in their accomplishments.
Janis smiles. Well. You'll mostly be for my sole use. You'll have an apartment. I'll give you an allowance. Pay for food and such. You will travel with me if necessary.
Day 1
Wabbit needs some fun and diversion to clear his mind. He goes that night to the celebration of Desna (who Chaldira is closely aligned with)
Day 2
Wabbit spends some time writing a letter on behalf of Senzo to the Lord Justice. The major points are that Senzo did horrifically evil things but that as a Paladin of Chaldira Wabbit witnessed the blessings of Senzos evil god be stripped from him and Wabbit felt the man had held nothing back when confessing to him. Senzo needs to pay for his evil deeds. Wabbit simply asks that if possible he be put in a situation where he might eventually return to society as a productive citizen, not simply warehoused with the worst hardened criminals whose company might jeopardize any shot at redemption Senzo might have.
The letter takes Wabbit quite a while. Definitely not something that comes easily to him. The letter finished, Wabbit feels better. He'd only spent a short time with the criminal but had been quite impacted seeing the taint of the evil god leave the man. He feels that his letter is enough and Senzos fate is well....up to fate now
edit: And on day 2 Wabbit goes to the
Aquaretum a "whimsical place like any other" ;)
He, of course, invites the other along and would very much welcome company. But he's definitely going, with company or without
Cleo and Aggah both go to the Aquaretum with Wabbit. Cleo feels a bit guilty for leaving the investigation alone while the evil lady is still out there, but once Aggah heard about it there were endless whining, so she relented.
The poor goblin misunderstood the idea of it completely, thinking the entire place was a fancy like restaurant and the viewing of all the fishies was to pick out the one or dozen you wanted to eat at the end.
Andreste travels to HG HQ to talk to Saila and see if she can gain access to the ledger and notes/letters in order to help with the translation and, if possible, make copies.
She shows Saila what she has from the night before as proof of concept of her usefulness, pointing out that it will likely take more than the 48 hours they have to break the code, but not nearly that long to copy it so the work may continue without the original.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Day 1
Wabbit enjoys a very nice evening festival that involves singing, dancing, and stargazing. Worshippers lay on the grass, sometimes cuddled up to one another, and look up at the stars to make their best predictions of the coming season.
Lilia hums and haws as she washes Janis. "I mean, yeah I'm not against something like that. I'm wondering about like, what if I get lonely? Can you make sure I'm able to get out of the apartment? Because I really like people, and staying cooped up would drive me batty real quick."
Day 2
Furnok and Bacon take a good nap during the day. Though their sleep schedule is a bit off, they'll awake feeling well rested.
Wabbit, Cleo, and Aggah go to visit the Aquaretum. It looks like a giant diving helmet made of glass and metal. The Aquaretum houses many different things, such as brightly coloured fish, embalmed sea monsters , and reconstructed ship wrecks. Each aquarium has an intricate seascape to it. Some are coral reefs, some are barren sand, and some are filled with kelp forests. There's even a rocky seascape that houses dozens of lobsters. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Aquaretum is run by a Gnomish man named Nireed Wadincoast. He says that he's been fascinated by the ocean for the last century, and little by little he's been collecting treasures from that surreal world. He's truly passionate about his work, but his ramblings about various sea creatures can drain all but the most enthusiastic of listeners.
With Andreste's help, the Honour Guard spend the day copying every single sign and letter from the ledger and mail. They've already begun their own translation efforts, as it turns out Saila speaks Draconic, Elven, and Infernal, along with a few other languages. If Saila continues to assist in the translation, they will glean their information very quickly. It would probably be best if they learnt the location of Xanesha before the other orders try to seize the opportunity. The two get along pretty well, but it's clear that Saila doesn't have nearly the same amount of education around magic and spells as Andreste has.
------------------------------------
That night, Furnok and Bacon are both wide awake. Furnok is in the kitchen having a midnight snack, when he hears floorboards creek. It's a little odd to him, but since there's so many people in the manor, someone is bound to need to take a tinkle in the outhouse at some point.
Cleo is having a terrible nightmare. She's watching the slaughter of her friends over and over again, incapable of doing anything about it. She watches Jeaux gets stomped on and stabbed with her own glaive. She watches Vandra get cut over and over again. Ali get kicked in the face, and stabbed. All of this by the silhouette of some monstrous creature. A woman with long hair. All Cleo can see in colour are her three blood-shot eyes. Eyes that hunger for their next prey. She watches as Shayliss gets pulled out and has her neck slit without hesitation. She watches Ali get pinned to the bed, stripped, and taken advantage of, then chocked to death. She watches Vandra's head behind cut off and taken. Then, a howl, a laugh, a cackle. Three eyes that laugh like a jackal.
Lamashtu
A terrible pain, never before felt pierces through Cleo's chest. Her eyes snap open to see a horror leaning above her body. A giant face, sewn together from rough hides, hollow eye sockets with a dim flame within. Its hand grasping a dagger embedded in Cleo's heart. Her body gets colder as her lifeblood seeps out of the wound. She can't move. Her eyes flicker, and her soul tears itself from her mortal body. A voice echoes in her mind.
"HELLO CLEO GINGERBERRY. YOUR GONDOLA AWAITS."
Now standing, or hovering rather, above her body, Cleo sees a skeletal man in a black robe. His eyes glow bright blue, and he smiles at her. He stands on the back of a little boat, hovering in the room.
The sound is muffled, but Cleo can hear Aggah scream at the top of her lungs.
Of course you can leave the apartment. You won't be a prisoner. Often. Janis gives her a charming smile. After all, you couldn't spend your allowance if you never left the building.
Furnok drops his sandwich and Bacon pulls his head out of a bucket of potatoes as the scream echoes from upstairs.
Dammit all! Can't get a decent day of peace without something happening! He charges out with Bacon.
Wabbit is actually a pretty light sleeper when he's not rattling the rafters in one of his snoring fits and upon hearing Aggahs scream
and he grabs his blade and rushes to Cleo and Aggahs room
Aggah screams again. The first one was in surprise. This one is in sorrowful rage "" grabbing her spear, which she sleeps with most nights since it is her WEAPON! she charges screaming at the evil longshanks with the ugly face.
Cleo looks at Aggah, and asks the skeletal man "But who is going to take care of her?" her voice sad beyond sad for leaving her friend.
The skeletal man seems to soften, as much as bone can soften that is. His words echo in Cleo's head, firmly, but gently as well.
"DO CHILDREN NOT TAKE UP THE BURDENS OF THEIR PARENTS? ONLY THEN ARE THEY NO LONGER CHILDREN."
--------------------------------------
Furnok and Bacon rush out of the kitchen at the sound of screaming. Wabbit is also on his way from his own bed.
Aggah attacks wildly, and manages to stab into the grotesque creature. Yet she feels like her spear did almost nothing as the tip barely sinks through the creature's chest. Its eyes turn upon her as it lifts the dagger from Cleo's dead heart. This... thing is absolutely huge. It's bigger than Furnok, and at least twice as heavy. Aggah can see in the dark, and her eyes peer upon stinking flesh, sewn together from what looks like cows or horses. Its head is quite fat and small, and drools idly. In its other hand is a battle scythe.
-----------------------------------
"That sounds pretty good." Lilia laughs. "Lemme think it over for a day or two before I give you an answer, okay? In the meantime... "
Andreste has a lengthy conversation with Skrate about what he saw as he followed the raven. He describes a pretty long fly, headed to a place where there are buildings built under a giant roof, so the sun doesn't shine. There was a tall tower, and the raven flew to the top of it. He saw three women, all really old and wrinkly. One of them was in chains, another was naked. The naked one and the normal one took the note and were reading it. Skrate started getting a feeling like the spell would end soon, so he flew as fast as possible to get back to Andreste.
Andreste hears the screams and leaps out of bed, pausing long enough only to grab her spell component pouch and giant sticker. She rushes towards the sound of the scream.
Cleo nods sadly at the wisdom. Aggah's face is so full of hate. Looking away, the halfling, who just wanted a bit of time away from home one day and got wrapped up in so much, looks up at the ferryman, "Do I need to go now?"
Janis smiles. Yes, in the meantime. The picture fades to black.
The Skeletal Man offers a hand to Cleo.
"IT WOULD BE A GOOD CHOICE."
----------------------------------------
Andreste bolts out the door at the same time as Wabbit and Ameiko. Funok and Bacon are racing up the stairs.
The monster climbs onto the bed, breaking it. Its hunchback scrapes the ceiling. Aggah stabs at it once again, finding better purchase this time. The monster stabs downwards at Aggah, and inflicts a deep wound. It lolls its tongue to the side of its drooling mouth, and slurs its words. "You next."
Cleo sighs, and nods. She takes one last look back at her friends, the others rushing in, Aggah getting stabbed. The pain in her chest has nothing to do with the dagger moments ago. It is much much worse.
"Good bye" she whispers, looking away. She starts reaching for his hand.
Aggah continues to scream in goblin, mostly incomprehensible even in a language built around incomprehension.
And so Death takes Cleo by the hand, and leads her into his boat. With a long, black wooden pole, he pushes off into the ethereal, slowly passing through the walls of the Kaijitsu manor, up into the clear night sky. He pushes the boat into the flying river of souls, milky silk gently flowing ever onward, and through it soars into a realm of stars and void. Now gently humming to himself, he rows onward. It looks like this could take a long while.
Andreste voice rips as she see Cleo's open chest "Cleoooooo!" her face hardens as she looks at the monstrosity before her. Her hands gesticulate practiced maneuvers and she darkly intone words of power.
The scythe (or dagger if the scythe is not a valid target) the thing wields becomes red-hot.
Andreste tries to figure out what she knows of this thing.
plus appropriate skill from Knowledge (arcana) +22, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +13, Knowledge (engineering) +8, Knowledge (geography) +17, Knowledge (history) +17, Knowledge (local) +17, Knowledge (nature) +11, Knowledge (nobility) +8, Knowledge (planes) +17, Knowledge (religion) +11
Wabbit RAGES!
and deftly dodges any strike from this MONSTER
Through eyes blurred by tears he rushes to his beloved cousin's body and places himself between her and this THING. Not quite thinking straight, he does the only thing he can think of at the moment, protect her from further harm and to his god Chaldira (more fervently than he's ever done in his life) Goddess please save her! and He lays his hand upon her while holding his blade defensively above her body, guarding her from further harm.
Andreste reacts immediately by casting a spell upon the monster's weapon, forcing it to drop the weapon and scorching its hideous skin. Andreste recognizes this monstrosity as a flesh golem, a horrible construct made of sewn together flesh, combined with the soul of an elemental. However, flesh golems should not be able to speak, nor have any concept of tactics. Something doesn't make sense, but Andreste swears by all her studies that that monster is a flesh golem.
Wabbit easily gets around the large golem. He tries to heal Cleo, draped upon the broken bed, still tucked under the covers, but she is truly dead. There is nothing he can do to save her.
Aggah's back bumps the wall as she swings and curses. This time her spear is easily deflected by the golem.
Furnok charges in and sees the bloody form of Cleo
SO NA! BAKANAAAAAAAAA! Furnok roars and drives his blade at the creature
Bacon can't get in and so squeals by the door.
The flesh golem whirls around to attack Furnok as he races through, but Furnok smacks the dagger aside and cuts along the sewn skin. Not deep enough to cause serious damage, but enough that he can get through the initial resistance. From the back, the familiar sound of Ameiko's shamisen inspires courage in everyone.
The golem decides to focus on Furnok, slashing the dagger across his chest. To everyone's surprise, the golem decides to continue the dagger's ark into a downward thrust, through Wabbit's guard and into his shoulder.
Andreste slashes forward at the golem with her giant-sticker from behind Wabbit and Furnok, knowing most golems don't react to direct magics like normal creatures.
for
Furnok keeps hacking
+ Inspire
+ Inspire
With a snarl Wabbit leaps up from Cleos body
(1/3 panache remain)
5ft move into the Monsters space
Limb-Climber (Ex): When adjacent to or in the space of a corporeal creature at least one size category larger than herself, a vexing dodger can climb that creature’s body with a successful Climb check against a DC equal to the target creature’s CMD. This Climb check may be initiated as part of the Dodgers normal movement..for example if the dodger has a speed of thirty and is only 20ft away from the target the remaining 10ft of movement could be used to Climb. Additionally, if the Dodger is adjacent to the target he can Climb using his 5ft move for the round.Although the vexing dodger is holding on to the creature, this action isn’t a grapple; it doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity from the creature, and neither the vexing dodger nor the creature she climbs gains the grappled condition.
latching onto to its belt or whatever he can get a grip on
While the mouser is within her foe’s space, the foe takes a –4 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks not made against the mouser, and all of the mouser’s allies that are adjacent to both the foe and the mouser are considered to be flanking the foe. The mouser is considered to be flanking the foe whose space she is within if she is adjacent to an ally who is also adjacent to the foe. The mouser can move within her foe’s space and leave the foe’s space unhindered and without provoking attacks of opportunity, but if the foe attempts to move to a position where the mouser is no longer in its space, the movement provokes an attack of opportunity from the mouser. This deed replaces opportune parry and riposte.
In addition, for 1 round after the holy tactician successfully strikes an evil creature, all non-evil allies within 30 feet of her gain a competence bonus on attack rolls equal to 1/2 her Charisma bonus against that creature as well as a +1 competence bonus on damage rolls.
Wabbit begins stabbing
+2dex rage, +4Outflank, Weals Champion +3/+1
Flurry/Rage/Dutiful Strike +6bab +6dex +1size , -2 piranha striking, +1waveblade,-2FD, +2DS
edit: please add the Inspire Courage bonuses
edit: If Wabbit is not adjacent to the monster it will take a move action for him to activate Limb Climber and he will only get one attack. If so he'll save Weals CHampion for the next round
Andreste gets a good stab in, but Furnok just barely fails to get any purchase. Wabbit realizes that he can't do anything for Cleo, and in his rage he leaps up and grabs onto a belt with three somewhat preserved heads strapped to it. Nevertheless, he smites the golem (a phrase that shouldn't make sense to Andreste), and slashes relentlessly through the seams of flesh holding the golem together. By the end of the flurry, the golem not only looks like it's beginning to fall apart, but its face even looks somewhat worried. Aggah just keeps stabbing and refuses to stop until one of them stops moving. By this point, the golem decides it's time to get out of here, and hustles out the window. Everyone swings at the golem, but only Aggah manages to do any meaningful damage.
Wabbit will let this thing go.
He flies through the window with the golem stabbing away furiously and if it seems like the fall will be very damaging he'll let go just before impact relying on his ring o f stars and stairs (featherfall) to cushion the blow
Andreste transforms into an air elemental and gives chase out the window as well. She saw nothing other than perhaps unwanted vengeance she could do for her new friend Cleo.
The golem leaps out the window with Wabbit still hanging on. It's a low drop, and the golem manages to stay on its feet even despite its awkward construction. It looks down at Wabbit, still clinging for vengence, and with its dagger it tries to stab the halfling. Wabbit easily swings to the side to dodge the attack.
"Get... off... Me!" The construct says
Andreste turns into an air elemental to give chase.
Furnok slugs his handy bottle of levitation and will hurl himself out the window.
"Get... off... Me!" The construct says
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I will....Once I've chopped you into bite-sized portions for the pig Wabbit says through gritted teeth as he swings wildly, stabbing everywhere he can reach
Flurry/Rage/Dutiful Strike +6bab +6dex +1size , -2 piranha striking, +1waveblade,-2FD, +2DS
Wabbit chips through the golem's defences bit by bit, and eventually he manages to plunge his dagger into what must be the 'heart'. There's a small burst of negative energy, and then the golem's faint red glow dissipates and it collapses dead on the ground.
There isn't much in the way of loot on the golem's 'person', but a few things are present.
- A note. It contains the address of the Kaijitsu manor, along with a rough trail of getting to the manor. It uses alleyways, abandoned houses, and a 300ft climb up a cliff. The note also describes Cleo's appearance, along with directions to the bed in the manor she normally sleeps in.
- A +1 battle scythe, medium size
- A masterwork dagger, medium size
- A cloak of Elvenkind
- A dose of Bloodroot poison
- Three semi-preserved human heads, enchanted to laugh and tell crude jokes
even after it falls and dies, Wabbit sits astride its chest rapidly pounding his blade in and out, again and again through a stream of tears
Twenty, thirty, FIFTY more stabs and Wabbit is done.......
He runs back to his cousins body and screams needing the big man to carry her let's take her to the Desnan priest
Furnok scoops up Cleo's body. What the bloody hell is going on? Blasted corpse giants sneaking through windows.. He starts heading off to the temple.
The party race towards the church of Desna as fast as they can. They tear through the streets at breakneck pace. They use the Arvensoar to reach the low districts quickly, and as a result there's a few guards who alert the Honour Guard of what's taking place.
After what feels like far too long, the party reach the church of Desna. Priestess Zimantiu is often nocturnal, so approaching her is very simple. The party are brought to the center of the church, an open courtyard. Cleo's body is placed upon a stone altar beneath the stars.
Priestess Zimantiu, the old woman, hobbles over to the group as quickly as she can. "Did she have preservative magic cast on her shortly after her passing?"
When the party explains what happened, the old priestess sighs
"Patience now... She travels a long journey before reaching the hereafter, we have time to talk and to plan, and to grieve. Even if she returns to us, there are emotions that all have felt, and they must be felt fully. I will have my acolytes place a shroud over young Cleo, and send a message to the temple of the Deadeye. Please sit here with me, speak out your feelings, your questions. Desna shall guide you through this journey."
Water and tea are placed upon a nearby table. Within thirty minutes, Father Lorgell Fendus of the Deadeye Lodge arrives. Father Fendus is a relatively young looking man, perhaps in his mid thirties. He has short brown hair and is clean shaven. He wears a dark green cloak, and bares a silver holy symbol of Erastil.
Furnok is not in the mood for tea. Well we certainly need to be talking to Cleo and make sure she knows just what happened. If we are being targeted by assassins she deserves a chance to get justice by her own hands.
Father Fendus replies "Yes, I agree that justice must be served, and even better if Cleo can rise up to serve it."
Priestess Zimantiu says "This is possible, but we will need to ask Cleo if she even wants to return. Life is hard, and the afterlife is much more peaceful. Worries fade so quickly in the celestial realms."
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
A little gingertop halfling child ambles over to her cousin who's just gotten beaten up for being stubborn like a mule, among other reasons. She brings over a cool washcloth so he can clean himself of all the scrapes and blood. She takes him away from the scene of the beating and sits with him in silence next to the stream. While tears of frustration trickle down his face she sits there in the silence, knowing that's what he needs as he nibbles on the pie she made with her moms help (the best one yet, well on her way to becoming an incredible baker). After sitting there for a while Wabbit falls asleep in her lap waiting for the sun to set. The next day he wakes up early and makes a crown of daisies and places it on the front porch. And waits in the bushes unseen, watching, elated when she steps out the door beams a HUGE smile, knowing it's meant for her and who it's from........All is right in the world
Father Fendus replies "Yes, I agree that justice must be served, and even better if Cleo can rise up to serve it."
Priestess Zimantiu says "This is possible, but we will need to ask Cleo if she even wants to return. Life is hard, and the afterlife is much more peaceful. Worries fade so quickly in the celestial realms."
Tears drying up as Wabbit hears that her return is possible
She WANTS to! There's no doubt. There's too many people she needs to, WANTS to take care of including me Wabbit thinks with a smile, resolving to welcome her back to life with the most AMAZING crown of FLOWERS