Thorax whispers to his Goblin cohorts, "Tehát ki akar szúrt?"
Zordox nods to Ladhlia respectfully.
"Zou have been most helpful, madame. May zou have a wonderful day."
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"Glad to be of help. And just to keep that going, take this." Ladhlia produces a packet of the adamantine blanch Zanhanal used on her sword. "Can't trust golems," she quips. "So it's only fair to have an 'off switch' when the worst comes to pass. That one's on the house, show me some gold if you want more."
"Don't try to annoy the Quantium golem too much, though; You'll all die with or without that. Now, I'd say you are due for some...sole-searching."
Thorax walks out, contentedly humming to himself.
Arkandru buys another packet of weapon blanch with his remaining gold.
Before leaving the shop, he bows to Ladhilia. "Thank you wery much, Madam. Ve vill endeawor to use your gift visely."
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Kefanes proves quite easy to find. Not only do the Quantium golems have a set route, but many have been watching them recently. They do little more than patrol and eliminate or circumvent obstructions in their path. So the crimson golem's decision to make a footwear accessory has been highly noticed.
Those asked readily mention the path taken. Following it at a hustle catches the team up in half an hour without incident. Still, for those not native to the city, the mere presence of this behemoth make for an incident. It towers over the low buildings and ant-sized people. Looking like a human but with few features, facial or otherwise, each deep red foot lifts off the ground and goes 20 feet before setting down again. This only showcases the mangled golden body lodged in a tricky gap at the bottom of the machine’s left foot.
If anyone wants to default to this option and be on distraction duty, you'll want to post early, possibly even in advance (I'm not sure yet). This way the others know whether to roll Stealth or not.
Fumbus heads after the golem, trying not to get spotted. Once close enough, he looks for hairs dangling from the creature's legs or feet, which seem to be common on other humanoids. Disappointed to not see any, he grabs for an ankle.
That looks like fun!
Zordox will use that Triple Time to move up to the Golem as his first action.
He attempts to Stealth!
If successful he tries to climb up on the Golem's foot as his second action.
Having not thought this through very well, he then attempts to pry the body loose using a skill he never thought he would be using!
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Fumbus and Zordox both make it onto the golem's leg, with surprising quiet considering their speed. The elf is even fast enough to try prising Kefanes from the foot, but to no avail. Thorax looks ready to do the same, but the massive thing is alerted to his presence! It lightly swings the back of its hand at the goblin as a warning.
Not even looking to see the result, it continues forward. This is to its detriment, as the goblin is not out. He, too, manages to get aboard and even pulls the quarry partway loose.
During the half-hour hunt for the Quanium Golem, Arkandru casts Heal on himself, using one of the charges from his staff.
Using triple time lets Arkandru and Trofimir catch up and keep up with the golem easily. Arkandru has little chance of climbing onto the construct's leg, and virtually no chance of staying on it if he does, but figures it is worth a try. He leaps for the monstrous foot.
True to form, Arkandru misses by a good couple of feet.
Fumbus tries to pry the remains of the form of the arclord from the sole of the golem.
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Despite his screaming, Thorax keeps prying the body out undetected. Fumbus does the same, and between the team's efforts, Kefanes pops free easily. Hopefully, the next part of the plan involves dragging him and everyone else as far away as possible. Those few seconds should constitute more than enough massive golem for a lifetime.
Once at a safe distance, "light" wounds can be mended and the corpse can be assessed. A quick search yields an ornate ring and a scrap of parchment. It mentions, in a vaguely threatening manner, that the author will be at an upcoming Merchant's League event and wishes to purchase Collected Directives.
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Fumbus looks at the scraps removed from the golem. As he does, he sings:
"Pile of goo.
Has wounds old and new.
Not one but two.
This much is true."
"Before under feet,
By golem was beat.
Sliced before that,
Bled before splat!"
"Tudod, hogy az embereknek nincs elismerésük a képzőművészetért!"
Thorax translates Fumbus's song for the Longshanks in the group.
Fumbus shoots a glance over at Thorax and mutters a few words in the harsh tones of his native tongue.
"Thanks for translating. Hopefully, they will understand the situation better now."
Arkandru limps forward, leaning heavily on Trofimir, and nods wearily at the goblins' explanation of the true cause of Keshanes's death. He asks Zordox for the loan of his healer's tools, then - sending a quick prayer to the Lady of Graves - tries to bind up his wounds and those of anyone else who was injured.
Zordox will use his Detect Magic spell on the body.
Upon finding the ring and figuring out what it is, he informs the rest of the party about what he found.
"I believe this might come in useful."
"Yes, ve should go back to Nexus House, und tell the Wenture Keptin vhat ve haf learned."
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Without much more to go on, returning to the Lodge to share your findings seems like a good idea. The quickest path there takes the team through an open-air market, complete with a large combination fountain/wading hole. Out of nowhere, several figures made of fire emerge from hiding places around corners. At the same time, a crossbow bolt whizzes past the assembled party.
The item in question came a bronze-skinned woman a ways away, her hair, flickering like flames, visible even from such a distance. "Tangohia, ka hohoro," she bellows to the smaller conflagrations. An ambush!
Quite quick to the punch, the woman fires again, looking straight down her weapon at Thorax this time. Missing by several feet, she then slaps down another bolt to prepare for the next shot.
"Lady, I do not know vhat you are saying, but I hope you chose your last vords carefully!"
Arkandru focuses on the leader, draws and loads his bow, and fires.
Thorax nimbly dodges the bolt, narrows his eyes, and sprints towards the woman.
"People of flame!
Thorax approve!
But YOU longshanks lady,
Get my knife's groove!"
Zordox moves up and begins to cast Lightning Bolt. He hurls it at the crossbow woman and it goes through the yellow elemental as well.
DC is 19 Reflex
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Monsieur Daguerre empowers the party with his speech, but the woman still ducks Arkrandu's shot. Rising back up, she appears confused and a bit unnerved by Thorax's song. "But I am a..." she points to her hair and is immediately caught full in the face by a bolt of lightning.
The elementals, surprisingly slow to react, spring into the fray. Each one scoots forward and swings their flaming tendrils at individual party members. Only a single strike makes it past their strong defense, hurting Fumbus a bit but setting him alight.
Set afire, Fumbus reaches into his bag and removes two vials of liquid ice.
He tosses both at an elemental .
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Fumbus' thrown flasks spill over their target, one striking true and the other closer to the ground. Its flame shivers but doesn't go out.
The woman's day continues to worsen as, after shaking her vision clear, Thorax is right in her face. She fires at point-blank range, hops back while reloading, and does it again. "No point in struggling against Keeamah," she cries unnecessarily.
"You not made of fire!
You just made of fake!
Look at all that blood!
And a nice crossbow I will take..."
Arkandru drops his bow. He grabs his greatsword and swings at the elemental with green flames.
"Yes, these are good tactics. Ve haf made our adwersaries come to us! Now they vill regret attacking innocent Pathfinders!"
"Vell, mostly innocent, anyvay. I mean, vhich of us is truly innocent? Ve vill all of us be judged vhen ve reach the Spire."
"Trofimir! Attack the blue one!"
Trofimir growls, then slashes at the elemental limned in blue flames with his claws.
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Thorax hits Keeamah hard, helping his use of song and semantics to continue scaring her.
Monsieur Daguerre's magic likewise strikes home. Its target looks completely unprepared for this sort of attack.
Arkrandu's aim is true and his fair words perhaps please Pharasma, letting him be dead-on. It hurts, but the elemental's lack of proper anatomy helps cushion the blow. Trofimir also takes a small chunk out of his own quarry.
Zordox takes a five-foot step and casts Telekinetic Projectile at the Yellow elemental.
He designates the type to be Blunt.
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Zordox's flung object misses its target by a wide margin.
The elemental in question doubles over and retches horribly, expelling some coals but mostly fire that looks exactly like it. This display, while hard to watch and raising questions about outsider physiology, doesn't seem to help it feel better.
Its fellows continue the attack, going for the mysterious vomit-inducer, deadly sword-swinger, and hated ice-slinger.