The beast steps and strikes at Hendric.
The Prophet once more appears, flying 60’ above Kaldane , his wounds from previously have disappeared, and he is looking down at Kaldane with rage-filled eyes.
””
The prophet speaks words that seem to manifest his rage as a ring of fire around Kaldane .
Nox, surprised by the sudden appearance of the prophet, shoots an arrow without a chance to steady himself, missing entirely.
Kaldane feels his entire being, not just his outsides but his insides as well, begin to burn, but it is, for lack of a better description, a cold burning sensation, devoid of essence, description, or material. It is simply pain.
The ring of fire explodes, seeming to consume Kaldane completely, but as the fire subsides, Kaldane flies amid where the flame once was, relatively unharmed from the explosion.
The prophet proceeds to scream lividly at seemingly everything, but most commonly Kaldane, in the language that the beast was speaking in.
PATHFINDERS GO! THE BOLD MAY ACT:
Round 9/10
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Xon
Hendric
Sinewy Things
Nox
Dark Prophet
Géatan (delayed)
Tortuga (delayed)
Nuck Tuk
Kaldane
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The bruised beast looks up wearily at Hendric, but remains standing.
The prophet looks at Xon and smiles, whispering something.
As Kaldane advances the prophet, his katana aimed right at his torso, the blade stops an inch from the man before a small burst of energy recoils the blade away.
The beast continues to attack Hendric.
PATHFINDERS GO! THE BOLD MAY ACT:
Round 10
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Xon
Hendric
Sinewy Things
Nox
Dark Prophet
Géatan (readied)
Tortuga
Nuck Tuk
Kaldane
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Miss chance (miss on a 1):
Nox’s last shot lodges itself in the prophet’s shoulder before he plummets from the sky.
Distracted, the beast looks onward at the falling prophet long enough for Hendric to get in a left hook that knocks out the beast. The desert becomes eerily silent as the foes finally fall.
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Nox winces as the Prophet hits the ground.
Ouch.
He moves quickly over to him and checks the body... or what's left of it. He searches the body for a moment, looking for anything that might help him track down Nuk.
Got anything to bind that thing with Hendric? His voice calls from the darkness.
We may need him to get to wherever Nuk is... and someone should go tell our ride what just happened. Maybe she can track him?
Nox does not find much of interest on the prophet—armor, cloak, headband, etc.—but certainly not a vial of any kind. What he does find, however, is what appears to be a medical bracelet on the prophet that simply reads “#117.”
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"He's not dead! Just disabled from the shadow's touch and your attack, Nox. Perhaps we can get the information from him.
But if not, you can speak to the creature? Its freedom for our companion. We can't trust it to teleport away on its own and come back with Nuck Tuk, but it can give directions to our conjurer. And once she returns with Nuck Tuk (two of us to go with her as bodyguards), then we free this creature. I don't see a better way to convince it to help us."
The beast doesn’t respond to Nox, because it’s unconscious!
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"Nox, I don't think the Prophet is waking up for a while. How long does it take for your shadow's touch to wear off? Or the debilitating effects of your arrows? But we can take away his spell component pouch, gag him, and bind his hands if it makes you feel better.
And the other one has been pummeled pretty well, but I will keep my lance at its throat. I think it will know better than to test me again. Still, you can talk to the creature and I can't. Maybe you can stay here and someone else can get the conjurer."
”If you honestly think that I have a Geas prepared then you have another think coming.”
From behind the party comes Farhaana, hands on her hips and the stern look on her face that has been there since you met her.
”I just finished reporting back to Saabira and couldn’t help noticing the situation. Care to enlighten me?”
Farhaana looks sidelong at the beast.
”That’s a Dimensional Shambler—nasty little buggers—can shift planes with people, but usually only once per hour...Hold on.”
She casts a spell and concentrates for a few seconds.
”Interesting. There seems to be a planar thinning in this area, allows you to Plane Shift to a precise location and back again, and let’s the shamblers Shift more often.”
She moves to the unconscious body of the prophet and rummages through his spell component pouch, pulling out a tuning fork.
”This’ll take me to where your friend is. And just a thought: while it is an alchemical miracle, the sun orchid elixir also gives off artifact-level magical auras, so maybe using a Detect Magic should’ve been one of the first things to do.”
Farhaana glares at Kaldane and Géatan before casting a spell, flicking the tuning fork and disappearing.
Moments later she returns with four individuals. ”Astral Plane. And an interesting situation...”
First is Nuck Tuk, foaming at the mouth and doing little more than grunting. Next is an unconscious half-orc, decked in armor with a sheath at his hip (but oddly no sword). Third lies a Chelaxian human with a spell component pouch at his waist. Finally, as Farhaana throws him on the ground, is the man from the Emir’s office, the Venture-Captain, stabbed through the chest with what appears to be the half-orc’s missing sword.
”Your friend’s been Feebleminded, I suggest a casting of Heal. As for the others, well, you’re the ‘experts.’”
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As the prophet falls, Kaldane sheathes his blade and then begins checking on the party.
When they regroup with Farhaana and she makes her comment about the Elixir, Kaldane will say "I was attempting to draw his ire, so I lied."
After she goes and gets Nuk Tuk then explains about his condition, Kaldane will provide him with the most powerful healing spell in existance.
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"The shamblers got a few lucky hits on me, Kaldane, if you can help. But I also have wands."
Sir Hendric searches the unconscious half-orc and Chelaxian for Aspis insignia.
"We should bring these around to question them. And the shambler, now that we don't need it... just let it go, I guess? I don't think a field execution is warranted, and I don't know how we'd hold it. But it seems like it was working for this Prophet, so with him in custody I don't care about his minions. And it had taken both Pathfinder and (I would guess) Apsis agents in a search for the exilir. Three factions in play here?"
He speaks to the now-restored oread.
"Nuck Tuk, are you okay? What happened? I'm sorry I wasn't able to break that creature's grip on you before it teleported away. Hit it hard, but those things are tough. If you are recovered, can you use Detect Magic to search for the aura of the Sun Orchard Elixir?"
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Nuck-Tuk takes some moments to get himself together. though he is slow to answer, he does appear to be listening.
you did your best. no matter how much you think you've seen, there is always something new to experience. he says with a little chuckle.
He gets to his feet, never knew this elixir would be magical. Will do Henry.
As Nuck Tuk scans the area he finds that The immediate area itself contains fluctuations in magical auras.
What Nuck Tuk doesn’t find, however, is any artifact-level magic auras.
”W-wait. You guys d-don’t have the elixir?” Farhaana’s face turns a bright shade of red as she grabs Hendric by the central plate of his armor. ”Then what the hell have you been doing?! You all spent this whole time screwing around instead of finding Pashow’s economic liberation?! In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t some dead guy’s tomb that you can desecrate for the promise of fame and fortune, like you damn Pathfinders are used to, we’re talking about a city’s survival! But what do you care?! You’re all only in it for the fame and glory anyways, what does it matter if my home becomes extinct as long as you get paid? And at this rate the elixir is gone and Pashow will be extinct, and it’s all thanks to you gods-damned Pathfinders!!!”
Farhaana punches Hendric square in the jaw before storming off in the opposite direction.
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Sir Hendric will wait a few minutes, then go to her.
"We are trying to do our job as the Emir asked," he says calmly. "We'll find out more when we can question these prisoners. We aren't mind-readers. We have no true mage. I agree, you are right, those who can do such things should have cast Detect Magic as soon as we arrived - but they feared we were entering a battle and so instead prepared to fight. Two vials did make it to Pashow, remember. But your actual enemy is not us, rather it is those who stole the elixir. We will find them."
He adds, "Still, is not a planar rift potentially a threat to more than just Pashow? I don't know much about these things."
He turns the group. "Lastwall doesn't stand against Belkzen by force of numbers or by magical prowess, but by good tactics. Let's try to be more aware of what each other are doing. I'm willing to take advice if any of you have a plan, but it felt back there like we were often acting as six separate individuals and not as a team."
With the immediate distraction of Farhaana’s outburst out of the way, Hendric is able to search the unconscious bodies.
On the half-orc’s sheath and on the crossguard of the sword piercing the Venture-Captain’s chest is a very familiar symbol: the insignia of the Aspis Consortium.
On the Chelaxian man is no Aspis insignia, but instead a note. The note details the path and approximate location of the Pathfinder convoy at the approximate time that the convoy got raided. It seems to be orders to retrieve the elixir to be delivered to “Loaralis the Great.”
The prophet has nothing of significance save a medical bracelet with “#117” printed on it.
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"Does anybody have a way to make this Prophet talk? Threatening him with evisceration is... not my way. Also not sure how well it would even work. Anybody have any scrolls or wands that might change his attitude or read his mind? We could always bring him with us and commission some spells."
Sir Hendric doesn't know whatever it is.
"If these ones who raided the caravan don't have the Elixir, and this Prophet doesn't have it, then some of the raiders escaped with it. We should track them down, and find this Loaralis. This bracelet means nothing to me. 117? What is that? A code? Anybody have any ideas?"
The gnome perks up from behind Hendric.
"I know what he's talking about! I was a part of the team sent to recover the lantern Aram Zey was trapped in, so I had to tail one of the attackers of the Grand Lodge. But you've got it wrong, Mr. Émond; the one who was a part of the attack was known as 322, not 117. But maybe you're onto something."
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Kaldane will heal Hendric as requested.
"Gnome, who was among your group was carrying the elixir? The Venture Captain, or someone else? If it was someone else, is their body still here, or has it gone missing? Actually, why don't you tell us in detail what happened here, now that we are no longer dealing with the threat of death."
The gnome ponders in thought for a moment before responding.
”Well, we were accompanied by a large chunk of Pashow’s military as well as many Pathfinders from the Grand Lodge, but that’s about all I know on that front; Thuvians and their secrecy and all that. Then suddenly the first group of raiders showed up; this half-orc was among them so I guess it was the Aspis. I was providing advantages for my allies—Good Hope, Haste, and all that—and generally staying out of the front line.
“Then the second group appeared and started attacking Pathfinders and Aspis alike—this spellcaster here chucked a Fireball at me and my surrounding allies while claiming loyalty to this ‘Loaralis’ fellow. I somehow survived the blast and hobbled my way to that altar to wait out the fight; I couldn’t survive another hit like that!
“THEN those things—the Shamblers—teleported in with this prophet guy and started grabbing people and teleporting away—apparently to the Astral Plane—where I guess the prophet killed them off. Everything was moving so quickly that I didn’t notice what happened to the elixir...but it was in the care of that lead golem.”
The gnome points to the metallic remains of what must have been the lead golem.