Initiative Order - Surprise
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Enemy
EE1
EE2
-------------------------------------Round 1
Selter and Sithiss
Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk
Kurse
Enemy
Maedhros
Ka
Ka looks over the derro for signs of life, but finds they have long since bled out from their wounds. They wear simple leather armor and carry shortswords and their dreaded repeating crossbows and poisoned bolts, which seem to have proved key to bringing the strange monster down.
Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk find only mundane supplies left here and with the scent of derro on her tongue, Sithiss leads the group through the narrow passage ahead...
But as you approach the alcove, the ground rumbles and two small figures burst up from the ground before you. They seem created of the earth itself, vaguely humanoid in shape and featureless save for two glowing gemstone eyes. They rear up before you and slam down on Selter and Sithiss before they can react. Sithiss is caught under the onslaught but Selter's armor protects him from the blow.
Sss...
, if hits and
With a lunge, Sithiss begins coiling about the other figure.
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Hearing the sound of sliding earth and stone, Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk break away from their investigations and hurry back towards the door. Shūkantayāk's clawed feet scramble across the stone as the horned creature comes to a skidding stop beside Selter, baring its fangs and letting out a low, audible growl. Kūtayak likewise hurries to Sithis' side, skidding to a stop and throwing back the sleeves of his robe, baring his curved talons.
"Move back!" Kūtayak orders with a shrill tone, "We will draw them in and strike!"
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Initiative Order - Surprise
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Enemy - surprise attack
-------------------------------------Round 1
Selter and Sithiss - strike for 10 and 6, Sithiss grappling
Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk - swing and miss
Kurse - casts Bless
Enemy
EE1
EE2
Maedhros
Ka
-------------------------------------Round 1
Selter and Sithiss
Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk
Kurse
Enemy
Maedhros
Ka
Selter's spear stabs strongly as Sithiss strikes and coils around her attacker.
Kūtayak and Maedhros recognize these creatures as Earth Elementals, albeit small ones. A burrowing earth elemental can pass through stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish swims through water.
The first elemental struggles to break free of the constrictor's tightening hold but can't quite get loose from Sithiss' coils. The other slams down on Selter again, this time striking the reptilian druid smartly.
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"Earth elementals! They can swim through solid earth or rock," Maedhros advises. Also immune to my Daze spell, he thinks but doesn't add out loud. To protect himself, the Chelaxian pulls a scroll of Mage armor and casts it on himself.
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Waiting for the elementals to move in and take both Selter and Sithiss as bait, Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk channel arcane energies through their bodies, creating a whirling haze of eldritch symbols around claws, beak, and fang. The eidolon and his summoner ready themselves, muscles tense, for the opportune moment to strike when the elementals are exposed!
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Sss...
, if hits and
The Earth Elementals shuffle forward right into the Pathfinder trap. Selter's spear and the Eidolon finish one almost simultaneously while Kūtayak destroys the last.
Looking over the elementals, you notice they have odd blue crystals among the usual rock and earth.
You move through the doors the elementals were guarding and discover another wrecked area. Broken furniture litters the room: parts of a stool, a modest writing table battered in twain, and several smashed chairs sprawl across the keep’s wooden floor.
Two sets of stairs, one in the northeast corner and one in the northwest corner, lead to a cellar beneath the prison dubbed Stavian’s Fair by the Swift’s residents.
Sss...
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When the elementals crumble, Kūtayak lets out a shrill noise and tilts his head to the side, blinking slowly. THe tengu noses through the rubble with his beak for a moment, then watches as Ka removes one of the stones. Brows furrow and the bird-man straightens, looking over to Shūkantayāk wordlessly. The two exchange a moment of silence, then leave the crumbled elementals and the lazurite to Ka, following Sithiss and Selter into the adjacent chamber instead.
Carefully moving around the nagaji and his serpent, Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk split up, moving around the perimeter of the room to the paired stairwells, each adopting a sentry position at the top. "Check room if necessary, this one," Kūtayak motions to himself, "will lead."
Then, raising his hand away from his body, Kūtayak recited a litany of strange syllables and verses as whirling rings of eldritch writing appear around his hands. These patterns are swiftly woven into a coat of layered armor that appears, not over Kūtayak, but over Shūkantayāk as a shimmering field of lamellar plates made from moonlight and stardust.
"This one is ready."
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Kurse follows the group still talking to his invisible companion, "blue marbless? No I am afraid I do not get that one Sslipss."
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The first level of Stavian’s Fair contains four large solitary confinement pens reserved for political dissidents. These cells are wooden and oddly intact, unlike the iron bars. In the southwest cell, Selter and Ka locate a diary, and its last passage details the horrific abduction. Several pages beyond the last entry have been torn out.
Kūtayak and Shūkantayāk observe the path further down with keen eyes. They notice something different about the stone floor at the landing below. Further investigation reveals a pressure sensitive trigger device, likely for a trap of some manner.
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"Not Desnan," Kūtayak squawks over his shoulder to Maedhros, "not this one, at least." Peering down the corridor, the Tengu furrows his feathered brows and clasps his taloned hands together. With a wave of one hand, he signals for Shūkantayāk's attention. The eidolon looks up from the other passage nearby, black eyes peering wordlessly to its master. But the two share a silent moment that seems anything but a master/servant dichotomy. Respectfully bowing its head, Shūkantayāk disappears a moment later in a flurry of strange cards and glowing sigils.
"This one is Pharasmin," Kūtayak explains in the wake of his eidolon's dismissal, withdrawing a small silver disk from where it is tucked inside th eneckline of his robe. "This one sees the spiral, walks it with you, and acts as guide..." Raising his free hand, Kūtayak makes several gestures in the air, one by one plucking on unseen threads until a whirling cloud of sulphorous gas swirls black and sooty at his feet. With a flash of flame, a dog-sized rat appears from the smoke, red eyes gleaming and fur slick with what looks like oil.
"Go," Kūtayak urges to the fiendish creature with a wave of his hand, "disrupt." With that, the rat scurries down the hall, its scaled tail snaking behind it until it disappears from view. As it does, Kūtayak looks to Maedhros again.
"All walk the spiral," his black eyes peer down the stairwell, "some in shorter distances than others."
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Interesssting! It ssseemsss that at leassst one of thessse prisssonersss isss sssomewhat ussseful. Look to sssee ssscrapsss of paper. That ssshould be the correct path.
Selter nods with approval when Kutuyak sends the rat to trigger the trap. {b]May not be heavy enough, but excellent idea none the lesss.[/b]
The summoned dire rat moves into position and triggers the trap, killing the creature in the process. You proceed down, the way made clear by it's sacrifice.
The second level of the Fair is stripped of nearly everything metal, leaving what was once a tangle of dank, solitary confinement cages transformed into a tumbled mess of furniture and prisoner odds and ends.
A collection of broken furniture in the corner suggests a struggle, and Selter, Ka and Kūtayak find a splattering of blood on the floor in front of the door in the northwest corner of the room.
This room is not devoid of life as the previous rooms have been. On the far side of the room stands a man dressed in torn beggar’s rags splashed all over with paint. He doesn't notice your approach as he is engrossed in his work painting a large mural on the wall, so you take a moment to observe his artistry. The mural depicts two large snakes carrying a bell into Cassomir’s sewers and portrays in great detail what is clearly your party chasing after the snakes. Several of you recognize this man as the Crazed Painter, the unnamed man who you have met before who professed himself a prophet of Groetus.
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Kurse slids his hand over his face wiping away his goofy blank stare, replacing it with bright attentive eyes and a friendly smile. "My friend it is good to see no harm has come to you. We met not to long ago when you painted my friend here," Kurse points to an empty space over his left shoulder. "If you do not mind me asking, how did you get down here?" This odd transformation has also removed Kurse's lisp.
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... The second level of the Fair is stripped of nearly everything metal ...
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While crossing the room, Selter examines the area where the cage bars once stood..
He then approaches the mad painter. Artissst of endingsss, what do you ssshow us thisss time. Your ssskill with ssshowing a ssscene is consssiderable. Why do you draw them carrying the bell when it is ssstill upstairsss? I particularly appreciate the sssnakesss. Doesss your painted image resssemble any sssnakesss that passsed thisss way?
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Full of frenetic energy at the back of the room as the others move to speak with the mad painter, Kūtayak looks around with twitching interest. One moment his attention flicks to the stairs, another to the ceiling, then again back to the mural being painted on the wall. Shūkantayāk offers a steadier look to its master, offering a concerned look to the stairs, then to the painter.
Neither say anything, but Kūtayak can be seen slipping a Harrow card out from the case at his belt. Flipping the card over in his hands, staring at the art with an ever-worried expression. "The Demon's Lantern..." Kūtayak whispers in rasping tone as his attention shifts suddenly to the painter.
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Filled with foreboding, Ka rushes back up the two flights of stairs as swiftly as he can manage, back over the rubble of the broken elementals and into the chapel room. He pants with exertion as he turns his eyes upward to locate the bell. Last seen suspended from it's proper place a mere hour ago, Ka finds only the splintered yoke. The bell is gone!
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Examining the mural, you find the images of the snakes look more stylized than realistic. Disturbingly, upon close scrutiny, you see they have human eyes which seem wickedly amused.
Maedhros recalls the Aspis Consortium features the form of the snake upon their standard.
The painter startles at first when spoken to, raising his arms defensively. You notice as he does this he has a number of superficial wounds. As he focuses on what Kurse and Selter say to him, you see the light of recognition come into his eyes and once Selter compliments his skill, the painter relaxes considerably and placidly answers your questions.
He addresses Selter first. "I paint what I see, I paint what I must. These snakes are charmers, but you should not trust! Has this scene come to pass yet? I know not, but your friend seems to fret!" He laughs abruptly, the broken cackle reverberating off the walls of the small room.
Then he turns to Kurse, a scowl creasing his features as he answers.
"They drove us down, down, deeper and down
into the depths of the underground.
They have no vision! They do not see!
They put their hands to blasphemy!
This is His vessle, so I bade them 'Cease!'
They shut their ears and thus released
my bonds and drove me away!
I came back for you, lest you go astray."
He bows his head reverently, apparently pleased to offer his aid and awaiting more questions if you have them.
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Ssso... Artissst of Endingsss, you imply they figures are ethical sssnakesss rather than literal sssnakesss? (Selter finds the metaphor annoying, but typical for ignorant mammals.) Disssappointing but not unexpected. The Assspisss Consssortia are rather dissshonest folksss.
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Thisss isss mossst irksssome and confusssing. How did mussst they have gotten passst usss? Are we not assstride the path to the depthsss?
...
Hold a moment, Maedhrosss can you make ussse of thisss wand to check the chapel for another portal to the depthsss?
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Unaware of the significance of what is transpiring, Kūtayak waits to see where Kurse and Selter's attempts at discussion get them. Instead, the summoner focuses his attention on more metaphysical tasks at hand, speaking a short and curt incantation as thin runes of light weave and twist around his talons, ending in a faint violet glow surrounding his eyes. Scanning the room, Kūtayak looks for evidence of something magical at work.
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No sign is found of a secret path from the chapel and the foot traffic and smells of the city watchmen have muddled the trail. Selter does think Sithiss smells a familiar scent though, possibly the boy Nefti.
Kūtayak finds no magical auras, but he finds the man has an unsettling look about his eyes when he speaks in rhyme, as if lit from within by a pale, bleak light. He seems genuinely touched by Groetus' influence.
The mad painter beams his nearly toothless smile, nodding in reply to Kurse's question. He points to the door in the northwest corner of this room, when opened you find an open trap door and a ladder that descends into darkness.
"Oh yes, Groetus has grander plans for me.
In fact, he has grand plans for thee.
He told me you would come, and so I have waited.
He requires that his shrine must be vacated
of the reckless derro and their sacrilege.
But I warn you, do not be blasphemous.
Interfere with his shrine and His anger will be swift.”
Your business concluded with the painter, your party descends the ladder into the dark, dank sewers below the Swift. Refuse rushes by in a stream of garbage carried swiftly through the sewer proper. A five-foot-wide dry ledge sits a foot above the refuse and provides a walkway on both sides of the sewer. On the far wall, a massive iron door blocks passage beyond. An image carved into the door is of a dispassionate figure holding a gibbous moon.
You see no nearby crossings, only some rock fall that lay like irregular stepping stones.
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Kurse will cast light on his sickle so he can see. Looking at the sewer crossing he sighs. "I thought I smelled poop gas. Well lets get this over with." Keeping his mouth shut and pinching his nose Kurse attempts get get across.
As Kurse hops across the rocks there is a moment when he almost loses his balance but he some how manages to keep his footing.