Calendula teleports to the water's edge, ready to strike.
Rudrik's about to launch himself down toward the portal when Theo starts roaring and making angry dragon noises, so he instead steps over in front of his friend. "Whoa whoa whoa there big guy, fightin's over that way!"
As Rudrik fends off Theo’s attacks, the portal lurches towards Calendula, moving to engulf her!
"I know you would never intentionally harm us, Theo," Nime calls out. "Trust in your heart."
Seeing that the others are busy Shenuska concentrates on the portal. Flickers of force whizz from her fingers, followed by a grey beam of death.
Shaking his head as Nime's spell kicked in, Theo looked around confused for a moment before remembering what they were there for.
Feeling off, Theo nevertheless decided to unleash a spell he'd had in his back pocket for a little while now. With a roar, four spheres of rock and fire appeared around him and raced into the maelstrom.
Calendula wriggles in the vortex but cannot pull herself free.
Shen's magic missiles batter the portal but her disintegrate beam doesn't get past its spell resistance. Theo hurls numerous meteors into its bulk, but the explosions seem to barely faze the thing! Calendula's blade slices through it, though, and Rudrik moves up to strike the thing.
The portal's wounds begin to seal up before your eyes. As its acidic body burns Calendula's skin, it lashes out at Rudrik, scoring a hit!
Shenuska unleashes another disintegration beam and then swoops in to touch Calendula with a quickened Freedom of Movement.
Nime draws a breath and calms herself. "Oh Mistress of Love, forgive me for what I ask. It does not follow your ways, but this creature does not and will never have a comprehension of love and we must end it." She raises her hand and points at the amorphous gateway.
Rudrik ignores the damage and just lays down another punishing blow!
Cursing in draconic, Theo moved forward and unleashed another gout of fire across it.
Rudrik and Calendula hack at the portal. Shenuska blasts it with a distintegration beam, causing a large chunk of it to wither and crumble. Nime's miracle is effective, suppressing the monstrous portal's life force. Then Theo breathes fire upon it, and even though it resists some of the damage, it is enough to finish destabilizing the thing. It implodes with a thunderous boom, and you find yourselves hurled back through time to the Well of All. The fifth temporal wound seals up. Only two wounds remain!
You find yourselves fully healed and refreshed once more.
Theo dropped his dragon form as they returned to the Well, holding his head as the restorative aspect of their return fixed the damage the portal had done to his mind.
"Oh dear gods, that was not pleasant. Felt like my brain was being put through a mill or something."
Nime turns away and falls to her knees, "Please forgive me, My Mistress," she says quietly. "You are the incorruptible, but I am a simple mortal and subject to the influences of the world. Forgive me for using your power for something so distant from your teachings."
She continues to kneel quietly in prayer, letting the tears fall from her eyes.
Calendula stands beside Nime, resting her hand on her back in silent consolation.
When the woman stands, she whispers, "I love you," and offers her a quick kiss on the mouth.
The quick kiss not being enough for the emotional undine, Nime pulls the woman into her arms for an emotion-filled hug. "Thank you," she whispers.
When she finally releases Calendula, Nime sniffs and smiles at the paladin. One hand reaches up and wipes at her eyes. "Sorry I'm such a mess. That was just ... I've never done anything like that before." She composes herself for a moment before turning to the others and, again, embracing each in turn.
"Are we ready for the next?" she asks once she's finished reinforcing her emotional connections to each of her companions.
"Not if you need some more time." Shenuska says gently. "Time is one thing we have a lot of here and now. What you did was difficult for you, we don't have to rush straight on."
If Nime insists Shenuska leads the way into the next wound without further comment.
Nime looks back at Shenuska with 'need' clear on her face, but she shakes her head. "It's not necessary to wait on me. Thank you, though," she says. "Let's proceed." She gives Calendula's shoulder a squeeze and readies herself for the next test.
You step through the sixth temporal wound. A great circle of rune-carved stone stands upright above a rocky valley, somehow holding itself in place despite not quite touching the ground. This is the nearly completed Cyphergate. At the base of the great floating ring is a massive camp of laborers and craftsmen, with scaffolding erected all along its circumference. Tiny figures scuttle about the camp and cling to the scaffolds, while the larger figures of giants and other beasts haul heavy loads of quarried stone or great logs for the scaffolding.
The semitransparent form of Alaznist appears near the top of the ring, where laborers toil at moving a massive, rune-carved keystone into place. Alaznist aims her glowing scepter at the keystone, and the runes carved in the rock seem to shift as tiny cracks spread through the stone before fading from view. None of the laborers seem to notice this effect, nor do they react to Alaznist’s appearance or her disappearance a few moments later, and they proceed to push the keystone toward its resting place despite the fact that its magic seems to have been tampered with. The tampered magic begins to spread, sending tendrils of energy out to infest the other stones one after another, all unnoticed by its oblivious attendants.
When you appear, you do so on wooden scaffolding attached to the upper reaches of the Cyphergate, standing amid the giants and monsters working to finish placing the keystone. A group of six stone giants provides the brute force of wedging the block in place, using chisels to make last-minute adjustments to the sides of the stone to ensure it’s a perfect fit. A group of four moon beasts under the effects of air walk, each serving as a mount for a denizen of Leng, looks on from the air nearby. A single rune giant stands in the air nearby (thanks to his own air walk effect), directing the dominated stone giants. The entire operation is overseen by a half-elf.
Your appearance startles the work crew and the half-elf flies over to you. ”Greetings. I am Draveenzi. We are about to place the final stone...” He peers more closely at your group and furrows his brow. ”Such a strange group! Who are you?”
"My name is Nime," the undine declares in a voice that lacks its normal brightness. "These are my friends, Calendula, Theodric, Shunuska, and Rudrik." She rises up into the air on wings of her own - the breeze ruffling through her hair. "We have come to right a wrong that has been inflicted upon the steady motion of time itself."
She drifts to hover down near the face of the keystone, her hand moving to indicate the flaws.
"A splinter of the Runelord Alaznist has poisoned this moment by damaging the magic of the keystone and it needs to be repaired before its infection can pollute any more of the stream of eternity."
"Or, to put it more directly, a time-traveller's tampering with the keystone and we're trying to stop her from messing up the whole gate. Especially because we used the Cyphergate to start going back and fixing her mess so the paradox that could result by the gate not working... not something I'd want to risk, personally."
That thought never having occured to her, Nime's eyes widen in surprise and then understanding. "Oh, yes. That too. That would be very bad."
Talk of time travel doesn’t surprise Draveenzi, since he knows of the Cyphergate’s intended function. Still he appears dubious. ”Alaznist has sabotaged our work? That seems unlikely... but if anything does go wrong, Karzoug will have my head! I suppose there’s not harm in letting you investigate further,” he says, convinced by Nime’s impressive powers of persuasion.
Quickly taking stock of the keystone, you realize there are two ways to undo Alaznist’s sabotage—by destroying the keystone or dismantling the harmful magic. Either way, you have to work quickly before the infection spreads throughout the entire structure!
"Thank you so much," Nime says. She knows that Shenuska will have a much better chance of removing the magical 'infection', but she feels the urge to assist with so many points that have to be addressed.
Shenuska weaves a blizzard of magic, forcing Alaznist's corruption from the keystone with the ease of a superb magician.
"Done." She says in satisfaction, less than 30 seconds later.
The infectious magic proves no match for your party of dispelling champions! Within half a minute, all of Alaznist’s sabotage is undone, and you find yourselves back in Stethelos.
Only one temporal wound remains. Ninuron swoops down to join you. ”I am ready when you are,” the dragon rumbles.
"Then let us end this for good!" Shenuska replies, offering the dragon a smile. She reaches over to squeeze Nime's hand. "Thank you for your help there. I could never have gotten close enough to the keystone if you hadn't convinced them to stand down."
Nime squeezes the hand back and smiles. "I did nothing special," she says. "I just asked them to do something that was in their own interests as well. They just needed to see what was needed."
She leans in close and presses a kiss to Shenuska cheek. "Thank you for your kind words, though."
"I like it when it's easy like that."
"You're very welcome." Shenuska replies, returning the kiss to Nime's cheek.
"I think we all do." She agrees with Rudrik, "So, let's clear this final rift and fix all the damage Alaznist has done."
You step into the final temporal wound! A lofty, ornate chamber appears, with carved stone walls and braziers. In one wall, a pair of large, oval windows flank a pit in the floor and give a devastating view of a forest being simultaneously blasted with fire and torn apart by a surge of tsunami waves. The sky above belches fire as meteors plummet down to pummel the world below. Within the room, a tortured sphere of blood churns and roils, dozens of human limbs and faces constantly forming from the crimson sphere only to be immediately absorbed back into the mass. The faces are all those of Runelord Sorshen, already partially absorbed by the sphere of blood. She screams in pain as she fights to escape, but it’s apparent that she’s sinking deeper into the sphere each second. A shimmering phantasm of Alaznist watches nearby, a glowing scepter raised in one hand as she directs the churning blood to claw and tear at the trapped runelord.
Shenuska knows that the sphere of blood is the Everdawn Pool, the artifact Sorshen used to achieve immortality and the gateway to the runewell she used to survive Earthfall. Today, it is located at the apex of the monument known as the Sunken Queen, but in ancient times it was the Shining Queen, and it served Runelord Sorshen as a well-defended laboratory and a symbol of her power. The scene of devastation beyond the windows shows Earthfall in full progress as the lands of Eurythnia are torn apart.
The instant you arrive in the past, another pair of entities manifests in this room. These strangely unnerving entities look like thin, graceful humans. One has the head of a stern androgynous man and crystalline dragonfly wings, while the other has a lynx’s head and wings made of gold-colored glass.
"Halt! You will not continue to alter that which has already come to pass!" the lynx-headed creature declares, moving to oppose Alaznist. The human-headed creature scowls and turns towards you. "And you need to stop your meddling, too! You are abominations to the flow of time!" it declares.
Iriis have spell resistance and are immune to disease, paralysis, slow, and stun. They have constant freedom of movement and improved evasion.
As you prepare to fight, you realize that Runelord Alaznist is more present here than in the other temporal wounds! Her presence functions akin to a partially real projected image. She can cast some spells through it, but cannot move. However, the Scepter of Ages is fully solid in her translucent grip. Now is your chance to interrupt her control over the mighty temporal artifact!
The entity determined to stop you quickens a mirror image to protect itself before firing a beam of disintegration at Shenuska!
Knowing that Shenuska should have no difficulty in dismissing the specter of Alaznist, Nime focuses on Sorshen.
"Oh, Eternal Rose, I beseech you to free the woman that will become our ally in this endeavor," she prays as she approaches the swirling sphere of blood. Reaching it, she waits for the right moment and touches an outstretched hand.
With a cry of pain that swiftly turned to rage, Theo once more shifted back into his draconic form (if only to make such spells not sting as much next time). He glared at the creature responsible as he shifted, weaving a second spell into his transformation so his draconic form was only visible for a moment before fading from view.
Even while a voice in the back of his head told him these things can probably see through invisibility.
Rudrik launches himself into the air with the flying boots that Nime gave to him, swinging Tannaris in a tricky maneuver to attempt to disarm the scepter.
Rudrik fails to disarm the scepter from Alaznist. The scepter itself responds to the attempt wit ha pulse of paradoxical energy!
As Theodric disappears, the strange entity that attacked him turns its attention to Calendula, trying to blast her with a similar disintegration beam!
Nime uses a miracle to free Runelord Sorshen from the Everdawn Pool. She falls out onto the floor, covered in blood, gasping and panting!
Shenuska focuses her efforts on removing Alaznist from the equation before turning her attention to the Irii attacking her friends.
Shenuska's powerful magic banishes the specter of Alaznist! As her image winks out, the Scepter of Ages remains behind, floating unattended. Calendula is able to vault up into the air and snatch the artifact! As soon as she claims the Scepter, several things happen in quick succession.
First, Runelord Sorshen immediately comes to her senses and escapes into the Eye of Desire back within her runewell deep under Korvosa, returning to the normal timeline.
Second, you each experience a sudden flash of memories as all of your potential timelines rip through your consciousnesses at once. As part of these visions, you exist for a brief moment alongside the Sihedron Heroes during their fateful confrontation against Alaznist, and realize that it was your actions here in the Shining Queen that ripped the Scepter of Ages out of Alaznist’s control in the instant after she hurled the Sihedron Heroes into Crystilan. Some of these memories and fragments of knowledge remain in your minds, granting you greater insight and power.
Third, the Scepter of Ages enters a devastating feedback loop of paradoxical energies that cause it to be catapulted forward in time. Where it might land in some future, be it tomorrow or eons hence, is beyond your knowledge. Ninuron roars as he is hurled backwards in time to his first meeting with you back in Jorgenfist.
Finally, the most important development is that all of the stolen power Alaznist harvested from her manipulation of the past vanishes. Her temporal image flickers into existence again for a moment, and she shrieks in rage and frustration as the bulk of her mythic abilities are painfully siphoned away.
As her temporal image fades from view, she points a finger at the you and cries out, “If I am to be banished back to my domain, I’m bringing you with me! We’ll all rot at the edge of the Eye of Fury... at least, until I can track you down and finish you!”
And then, a vortex of countless realities overtakes you as your timelines and that of Golarion are finally repaired. An instant later, you find yourselves standing in a strange and unfamiliar stone room. Just as when you first entered a temporal wound, you are restored and rejuvenated as if you had received a full night’s rest and the opportunity to regain spells and daily uses of abilities.
The room is empty save for a spiral staircase leading down...
"Well this is interesting." Shenuska says mentally, still cloaked in her many layers of magical protections. "If Alaznist was right I'd wager that we're in Hollow Mountain again - that's where scholars have speculated the Eye of Fury is secured. Shall we?"
"Bloody hell, and I thought those smaller snapbacks were disorienting," Theo remarked as his invisibility and dragon form faded - the former because it wasn't going to last long enough to matter anyway, the latter because he wasn't sure he'd fit down the stairs otherwise.
As they readied to descend the stairs, Theo restored his defensive spells, surprised they've lasted this long .
The architectural similarities of the rooms you are in seem to corroborate Shenuska's theory that you are inside Hollow Mountain.
The spiral staircase descends into a huge chamber, which holds at its eastern end a tower of black stone rising to a height of forty feet. A turret extends an additional twenty feet up from the center of the tower’s parapet. Protruding from the side of this turret is a long, trumpetlike tube. The smell of brimstone hangs heavy, and the air bears a slight haze.
A wooden ladder constructed from tree trunks leans against the tower’s north side. Three sun giants with flame-colored hair and golden skin stand guard atop the tower's parapet, while a rune giant crouches in the air above the central turret. As the giants prepare to attack, the turret itself begins to rotate in your direction!
As the swirling assault of realities finally fades, Nime shakes her head and opens her mouth to say something. Her face twists, though, and she turns her head as she vomits forcefully.
When the intestinal rebellion is finished she wipes her mouth and gives a shaky smile. "Let's not do that again any time soon, shall we?" She summons some clean water to wash her face before asking, "Is everyone ok?"
The undine isn't satisfied until she's spent a minute or so with each of her companions, looking them over carefully.
Calendula nearly faints with the sudden switching of planes and realities. "Feels like a lifetime ago we were here last," she murmurs before descending the ladder.
Rudrik takes in the surroundings and replies to Calendula, "Well, repeated time loops seems to be a motif here."
He launches himself toward the turret, figuring that it probably has some horrible spell or something that it means to fire. He brings Tannaris to bear, clanging the sword against the rotating metal in an attempt to simply shear it asunder.
Rudrik slices into the turret, damaging it significantly, though not enough to immediately disable it.
The sun giants call down columns of flame on Rudrik, trying to stop him from damaging the turret! The rune giant likewise unleashes a shower of burning sparks from its body.
The trumpetlike turret itself rotates to aim at the rest of the group, seeming to notice you despite some of your invisibility spells. It unleashes a huge blast of burning flames!