|
Bending over to scratch Stinky's ear for a moment, Kala whispers a command to him as she gestures to the new arrival: "Stinky, flank."
She then draws her warhammer as she saunters past Nirion and The Balrog to casually lean against the pillar near Leska. With a smug drawl, she responds to the challenge: "Weelll, isn't that nice. You think this is your property. I wonder why? 'Cause it isn't, you know."
|
Lunevi
Nirion
Leska
Kala
Ninja
The Balrog
The Diminuitive Flutist
Leska
Ninja
Yagajimoro
Stinky
Salvadore
As Kala walks along the edge of the wall, she notices an odd bit of snow hanging from the roof. As she gets underneath it, she realizes that it is not a mass of snow, but a thin humanoid figure dressed entirely in white. He is dangling from the roof by his feet and clinging to the side of the building so tightly that he blends in with the building. Kala shouts a warning, alerting her allies of this carefully hidden threat.
The Balrog lashes at Leska with his whip, cracking her across the knuckles and causing her to drop on of her blades, which clatters on the stone floor of the courtyard.
The short tailed figure begins to play a haunting melody on his flute. Leska smiles wickedly, saying "Yeah, you know the one I like, Tziz." Instead of merely bending down to pick up the fallen weapon, Leska stomps on the handle of the kukri, flipping it up into the air and catching it. Spinning forward, the half orc slashes at Kala with the recently retrieved blade.
Fortunately for Kala, she is able to use the pillar in between them as cover, and the attack does not connect.
With Kala's alert senses once again spoiling his devious plans , the white clad ninja tosses the first of his shuriken's at her.
The first shuriken bounces off the stone floor of the temple but the second one finds a home in Kala's shoulder blade.
After injuring Kala, the ninja swings back onto the roof of the building.
Lunevi
Nirion
Leska
Kala
Ninja
The Balrog
The Diminuitive Flutist
Leska
Ninja
Yagajimoro
Stinky
Salvadore
|
|
Using a swift action, Kala activates her Animal Focus, giving herself the Aspect of the Bull . With Stinky in place, she takes a five foot step to clear the column as she winds up her warhammer like a softball pitcher, hoping to slam Leska with a ringing uppercut.
Unfortunately, in her attempt to clear the column on her right, she overcompensates and knocks the outside of her knee as it swings around, causing the blow to miss her target entirely. That's going to be one heck of a bruise.
|
|
Yagajimoro runs out of the shrine room to see that yet more Aspis agents have arrived and are attacking the party. The creature standing on the log shrinks back as Stinky runs towards him and shutters with relief as the bounding wolverine turns on its heels at the last moment to move behind the half-orc fighter instead.
Salvadore fires a blast of flames at the man on the room, hoping that he can catch him in the edge of the flames.
Seeing the cone of fire heading his way, the ninja does a backflip, avoiding the worst of the flames, but still getting a little scorched.
Nirion slashes at Leska, cutting into her impressive bicep. Kala swings her hammer with both hands, knocking the nose of caryatid on the column she is standing next too. The Balrog moves in behind Kala and lays his hands on her shoulder. The wound seals up and the razor sharp disk falls out of her shoulder and clatters on the ground.
The furry little person on the log continues playing a droning melody on his flute and hops off the log, disappearing from sight. His haunting melody can still be heard over the din of battle and seems to give the two Aspis agents additional clarity and purpose as they attempt to fight you off.
Leska swears in orcish as she sees additional Pathfinders join the fray.
The ninja rolls off the ledge of the roof he's on, grabbing the ledge with one hand. With lighting fast speed he throws a pair of shurikens down at the party. The ninja moves so quickly that he appears to blur at the edges.
Both shuriken sink into Kala's armor but the tiny disks don't penetrate far enough to puncture skin. Kala remains standing, covered in blood from multiple wounds and barely conscious; but still standing.
Lunevi
Nirion
Kala -17
The Balrog
The Diminuitive Flutist
Leska -8
Ninja -5
Yagajimoro
Stinky
Salvadore
Lunevi
Nirion
Kala -17
The Balrog
The Diminuitive Flutist
Leska -8
Ninja -5
Yagajimoro
Stinky
Salvadore
|
|
The Pathfinders quickly overwhelm Leska, with Yagajimoro landing a slashing blow with his sword and Kala's wolverine managing to take a chunk out of the half-orc's leg. Nirion moves into position, leaving himself vulnerable as he squeezes by companions to reach her. Leska takes advantage of the opening, swinging an overhand blow at the cleric and slicing into his shoulder.
Nirion continues moving forward and with one clean slice he decapitates the half-orc. Leska's head drops to the ground, bouncing off the cobblestones and continues rolling down towards the wall of the inner sanction.
Seeing Leska slain, the ninja and the bard both surrender.
|
Listen, Friend. Clearly you have been under the sway of this half-orc...perhaps you'd be happier working with the Pathfinder Society? All the folks I've met there are real nice! Y'know, except when we're attacked, and then we kinda...well, murderhobo the crap outta of our enemies." Yagaji's limited intellect begins to catch up with his words, and he offers a bright smile. "So you don't want to be our enemies, right?"
|
|
The small flute player appears to be afraid of the Pathfinders but Yagijimoro's words seem to have a calming affect on him and steps forward, willing to talk.
"My name is Tzizzan and I am simply here as an envoy from Round Mountain. We live within the Hao Jin Tapestry and our power is unmatched among the denizens of this demiplane. The Aspis Consortium is seeking an alliance with us and have offered us many wonderful things in exchange for our aid. Despite your organization's arrogance in presuming that you may own this place, we have no dispute with your organization. But I can assure you that if even one whisker is harmed on my head, Round Mountain will surely avenge me."
The ninja in white remains on the roof of the shrine and appears unswayed by Yagajimoro's words. The Tien made coldly assesses the Pathfinders, his brown eyes unable to disguise his rage and contempt.
|
|
The ratfolk answers Nirion. "Not every place within the Tapestry is dead, like this one. There are many people living within the Tapestry and the Aspis are gathering allies. They recognize the power of Round Mountain and want to work with us, sharing the spoils of the Tapestry as we work together to unite it into one grand kingdom!'
"They have a way into the Tapestry itself; a back door of some kind. I'm sure you expect me to tell you where their portal is, but I do not know. It is a closely guarded secret; few of the Aspis agents even know the portal's exact location.'
"They already have a base set up inside an ancient Osirian tomb. We had to come through there to get here. I think they have a way of getting to other parts of the Tapestry from there but I was not allowed to see the mechanism. They blind folded us, you see."
The ninja looks on with disgust as his companion willingly shares information with you. "I, Motomoto am not a cowardly rat. Let me go or allow me die with honor, as I will not talk with you."
Kala and the Balrog both notice that Motomo has slipped a small, gray rod about the size of a pencil from his pocket into his hand.
|
|
Yagaji says to Tzizzan, "Come, let us discuss what the Pathfinder Society can do for the denizens of Round Mountain. We Pathfinders are well-versed in what becomes of those who work with the Aspis, and you might appreciate some frank discussions. You can ask us anything you'd like. But let us do it inside, by a warm fire. If Motomoto insists on violence, I would prefer to keep you safe..." Yagaji will place himself between the ninja and Tzizzan.
|
|
The Balrog lashes his whip at the ninja's legs and manages to knock his on his back. The ninja takes the small gray stick in his hands and scraps it along the rough masonry of the roof. The stick begins to emit a thick black smoke, concealing Motomo.
Kala
Salvador
Yagajimoro
Stinky
The Balrog
Motomo
Kala
Lunevi
Nirion
The ninja is now fully concealed in a black cloud of smoke, but he is most likely still in the same square and prone.
|
|
Yagaji takes a quick look to see if Leska still breathes
Salvadore moves in and blasts the area where Motomo was lying with a blast of fire. There is a scream as the flames burn the ninja, then silence.
Motomo is captured and when he comes to he admits that he is not an Aspis agent but a member of the Golden League, a powerful crime syndicate based out of the Tien nation of Goka. Motomo felt that he could make some kind of business arrangement with the Aspis Consortium, but he isn't willing to die for them.
The unexplored room contains a haunt. It's not enough powerful enough to kill anyone, but it could've inflicted STR damage. An aspara died here when the temple froze and her spirit is protecting this room, which is why the Aspis left it alone. A religious ritual can deactivate it, but it does not have to be dealt with.
Tzizzan is able to show you where the portal is to the Aspis's main base inside the Hao Jin Tapestry.
At this point the scenario is wrapped up and the party is ready to leave the Tapestry and report their success to Aram Zey. The other tricky thing here is that there is no way to bring the liberated slaves or the captured Aspis agents back with you. The only way out for them is back the way they came in, through the portal to the Aspis Consortium's main base camp within the Tapestry that Tzizzan talked about about.
|
|
Lunevi would want to at least make an arrangement to keep the liberated people and the Aspis agents safe or at least under guard until
Aram Zey comes to a decision as to how to handle the situation. She'll volunteer to wait with the freed men and the new captives until the situation is reported and she hears back regarding the matter.
"Perhaps they can secure a base camp here for our own agents with what comforts we can provide until we're able to secure their passage home?"
|
|
Aram Zey congratulates the party with as much enthusiasm as can be expected from the curmudgeonly wizard. He is particularly interested in knowing that the Aspis already have a base in the Tapestry and that they have a carefully hidden back door.
"It's alarming how fast they've been able to claim territory within the Hao Jin Tapestry. I'm sure they are throwing an enormous amount of man power into exploring the demiplane and recruiting its denizens to their cause. I expected that they had some sort of secret backdoor and you seem to have confirmed that."
"With the information you gave us, we may be able find the hidden base they have set up and send a more experienced group of Pathfinders to lead an assault on it. If that ratfolk is right, then knowing its an Osirian ruin will help us narrow down the search."
"Unfortunately, we don't have a way to get anyone out of the Tapestry at this time. The fact that you captured so many of the Aspis is somewhat unfortunate, as we will now need to direct our scarce resources towards feeding them. Oh well. Maybe we could arrange a prisoner exchange with the Consortium? I'll have to ask Ambrose about that."
"It's too bad about the slaves, but they're going to have to stay there too. At least until we figure out the location of the Aspis's backdoor or find another way to get them out."
|
The Balrog's deafness has worn off by now.
"I wasn't in favor of taking so many prisoners, but I also know it only costs a couple of coppers a day to feed them gruel and water. So don't tell me that the cost of feeding them is a hardship. But just kill them if you want, you outrank us."
"A shame about those guys stuck in the Tapestry. I bet Zarta Dralneen could figure it out. She knows a lot about magic, maybe more than you do, Master of Spells or no. Especially if the magic involves bringing beings across planar boundaries. She's been known to do that once or twice."
"Anyway, you do find out the location of their backdoor, you can call on me again. I don't mind taking out a few more Snakes. As long as the pay is good."
|
|
Before going to find his loyal squire Eddy, Yagaji will make certain the prisoners know how to use the pointy end of the weapons, and strip all the gear off the bad guys and tie them up. Then he'll suggest the former prisoners hop through his Eddy, and be very, very disappointed when it doesn't work. "Might be best to just find a warm place in this magic rug where you can hide from those Aspis jerks. Just come back here to this spot every few months to see if we've left any messages for you. Maybe we'll figure out how to give you an eddy of your own. And be sure to keep an eye on those bad guys. Make sure they don't cause you any trouble..."
|
|
"I don't really have time to explain basic spellcraft theory to you, even less so knowing that the explanation would most certainly go over your head. All you need to know is that if the Master of Spells tells you something's not possible, you should probably take his word for it. If you have any other questions, direct them towards Salvadore. He seems like a smart boy. I'm sure he could explain the ins and outs of demiplane environments and innerplanar travel better than I could."
Because it is another plane, you can't teleport out of the portal. Plane shift might be able to get someone out of the tapestry, but it would also deposit the person 5 to 500 miles in a random direction; which could be in the middle of the ocean.
You can take small amounts of objects out of the portal. So another way to take them out might be to turn them into stone, shrink them with magic, and then restore them to normal size and stone to flesh them when they're on the other side. They would have to pass a save or die though.
Another option would be to kill and dismember them, then restore them to life outside the portal. It is unknown if this would work though, as their souls may remain behind in the demi-plane.
|
|
"See, you just aren't being creative enough. Zarta might use Plane Shift followed by Teleport.
Or turn them to stone so they are objects and bring them out with her.
Or dismember them, bring out the pieces, and put them back together. Use Trap the Soul when you kill them in the tapestry so you can bring their souls with you.
Maybe stick them alive and breathing in a portable hole? Could be risky, but hey, that's life, right?
Lots of ways you could do it."
|
|
Kala ponders the situation for a bit, memories triggered by by the Balrog, then relays the information she has figured out. Downcast, she finishes with: "It looks like the best bet for those poor guys is for us to find where on this plane they entered the Tapestry and rescue them from there. No easy task."
|
|
"Just let me know what I can do to help!" Yagaji strikes an heroic pose, offering his most winning smile. And he stands there in that pose, just waiting for someone to tell him what to do. Eventually, if nobody has any suggestions for him and everyone else leaves, he'll shrug and return to the newbie bunkroom. "I think that went well..." he mutters to himself as he goes.