Zhu Li thrusts with her sword and pierces through the cultist’s heart and out the back of his spine!
Round 4/5
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste
Orange: -36, Confused (targeting Dashed White), on the ground
Blue: -20, Confused, on the ground
Dashed White: -41, Confused (targeting Orange), on the ground
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li
Cultists of Angazhan
???
Jordan
Sahess {35’ above ground}
=================
Dashed Black falls .
Blue falls .
Dashed White falls.
Orange raises his spear high and completely disembowels his fellow cultist!
Everyone clearly hears the sound of a deep voice uttering magical incantations from the northeast passage.
Round 5/6
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li
Cultist of Angazhan
???
Jordan
Sahess {35’ above ground}
=================
As Arnaut rounds the corner he finds the end of the 25’ tall passage obstructed by a a 20’ tall wall of whirling blade . Beyond the wall the cave opens up into a much larger chamber.
The most noticeable and harrowing feature of this room is the 60-foot-tall statue of Angazhan carved into the west wall. At its feet stands a candle-laden altar, upon which a female human lies bound. Two giant murals flank the statue, painted with mud, blood, and more unmentionable substances. The northern mural depicts several humanlike apes emerging from a river of blood, driving throngs of enslaved humans before them, while the southern shows a giant red ape standing over the corpses of many of Golarion’s deities. Like much of the rest of the cave, vines cover the ceiling, though these vines hang fifty feet or more above the ground.
Standing in the room is a massive orangutan in scalemail, a spear in one hand and the other grasping a crude necklace, the pendant of which being the unholy symbol of Angazhan carved out of wood . A sinister intelligence paints the beast’s countenance, and its pupil-less eyes and graying skin hints at its unnatural nature.
Arnaut intensely hears a rustling coming from above him. As he looks he sees a rotund silverback gorilla hiding amid the vines on the ceiling, looking intensely toward where Arnaut just came from.
Round 5/6
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li
Cultist of Angazhan
Orangutan
Silverback {15’ above ground}
Jordan
Sahess {35’ above ground}
=================
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Arnaut backtracks quickly, thoughts racing as he starts relaying his discoveries. "私たちはすぐ上の天井にゴリラを," he blurts, "そしてもう1つは角を曲がったところに持っています。 私があなたのためにそれを取り除くことができるかどうか見てみましょう。" He glances back over his shoulder and makes another chopping motion with his hand, whistling sharply as he attempts to sever the magic powering the spell.
The wall of blades vanishes as both the orangutan and the silverback jerk their heads in surprise! As Sahess flies she provokes from the gorilla.
Round 5/6
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li
Cultist of Angazhan
Orangutan
Silverback {15’ above ground}
Jordan
Sahess {20’ above ground}
=================
Sahess chops the silverback’s head off and Orange falls .
The orangutan narrows his eyes as he starts incantations and a turtle shell filled with gel floats out from his pouch and he takes out some of the gel with his finger and applies it to the outside of his eyelids.
Round 6/7
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li
Orangutan
Silverback
Jordan
Sahess {20’ above ground}
=================
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"ちょっと待って！" Arnaut says quickly, pulling out a pitch-black obsidian rod from his haversack. "Mae gennym lich orangutan dig o amgylch y gornel, yn ôl pob tebyg ffynhonnell y sillafu a glywsom yn gynharach," he explains quickly to Jordan. "Dewch draw yma yn gyflym, cyn iddi fynd allan o amrywiaeth!"
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"Daliwch i fyny. Mae BETH? Byddaf yn iawn yno."
Jordan rushes past Zhu Li and Arnaut, making sure to bump them a bit along the way, gets into the room, shouts an expletive in Sylvan that doesn't have a translation into Common (closest we've got is "The F***!?"), and takes a shot at the big boy.
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Zhu Li palms a capsule of liquid and three platinum coins, breaking the former over the latter to prime the projectiles for use before stepping out and examining the ape-lich in detail. "Be careful," she warns everyone, "try not to let him touch you."
Move: Moving
Swift: Kirin Studying the Apelich
Sahess moves straight toward the giant orangutan!
The gorilla’s stab at her wings causes Sahess to fall a little, but what’s worse is when the woman impacts with a burst of pure energy that sends her tumbling to the ground!
Sahess falls to the floor!
With little else to do in way of ranged combat, Sahess breathes out a breath weapon of pure snow out against the lich, but as the snow clears, the lich looks unharmed!
The lich looks on at Zhu Li with a stunning calm. His mouth opens, and out comes a deep and menacing voice, one that immediately demands total respect.
A wave of negative energy moves out from the lich, bringing a feeling of dread upon all that look upon him!
The lich’s words send a chill down Zhu Li’s spine!
Chorkak looks down upon the woman on the ground at his feet. He chants in a deep guttural tone as his hand begins to glow with a shadowy energy. Chorkak reaches out to touch the fallen dragon disciple.
Sahess screams as her life force is completely drained from her body and a black energy snakes up Chorkak's arm and up through the air behind him, terminating in the open maw of the massive statue to Angazhan.
Chorkak straightens his spine as he turns to address the Pathfinders as a whole.
Round 7/8
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste, Good Hope
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li {shaken}
Chorkak (-20 from 1 attack {before DR})
Jordan
Sahess (-159) {prone}
=================
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Hearing Sahess scream, Arnaut springs into action. Dashing forward to touch the fallen rager, he sings a quick pair of notes and pops both of them back next to Zhu Li. "Jordan, llenwch y peth hwnnw gyda saethau tra byddwn ni'n cael Sahess yn ôl ar ei thraed," he directs, calm as a stage manager in a burning theatre. "Zhu, możesz ją uleczyć? Cokolwiek robisz, nie zbliżaj się zbytnio do tego lisza - mam pomysł."
Jordan manages to fill the lich’s form with several arrows, causing the ape to growl. Chorkak’s eyes shift and fall upon Jordan.
Round 7/8
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste, Good Hope
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li {shaken}
Chorkak (-124 from “2” attacks {before DR})
Jordan
Sahess (-159) {prone}
=================
Sahess stands up and casts shield on herself.
Chorkak charges forward towards Jordan, reaching his hand out to touch the archer.
Chorkak once more pounds his spear on the ground, sending a wave of negative energy outward
Round 8/9
Field Effects: Inspire Courage +3, Haste, Good Hope
=================
Arnaut
Zhu Li {shaken}
Chorkak (-124 from “2” attacks {before DR})
Jordan (-9)
Sahess (-49)
=================
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"Walls, you say?" Arnaut replies, voice steady as he mentally measures distances. "Yes, I think that could be quite handy for forcing the beast's hand." He sings a note so pure that it sparkles in the air, shimmering and twinkling as it circles around the lich and creates a humming curtain of descending arpeggios. Where the wall strikes the creature, the harmonies sour and blare discordantly. Arnaut conducts to himself, singing a countermelody to the wall's song that somehow even manages to harmonize with the dissonance and emboldens his companions even as the bard himself steps back down the hallway.
At Jordan’s first arrow the gorilla lich is hit square in the head and disintegrates into dust! As Chorkak’s armor, spear, and other gear fall to the ground they shrink to half their size .
This small chamber contains mounds of filthy rags, gnawed bones, and a few malformed, undernourished, ape- like creatures. The smell of excrement is overpowering. Chorkak and his followers use this cavern as a holding chamber for the many deformed and deranged offspring he produces through his various experiments. In general, the lich and his worshipers avoid this chamber, and see it as more a midden than a nursery; most of the unfortunate creatures die within days of being exiled here.
Creatures: Dozens of Chorkak’s strange, inbred monkey children and failed past transmutation experiments fill the floor and walls of this chamber, resting on every ledge and in every nook they can find. Small and deformed, they pose no threat to the PCs, though they create an incredible din whenever anyone approaches the room, wailing and screeching in agony and fear, alerting Chorkak to the PCs’ presence.
Jordan approaches the alter and on it finds four candles, melted down to the stone slab, each consisting of one of the four humors: red blood, green phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. The eviscerated corpse of a shaven baboon lies at the foot of the altar, drained of all bodily fluids; there is no indication where these fluids are now.
As Jordan unties the woman he finds something very wrong with her. While still clearly human, the woman’s brow has become enlarged and Neanderthal-like and her arms are elongated to an absurd length. On one hand she wears a golden ring, while on the other a signet ring bearing the Glyph of the Open Road. In her pocket is a wayfinder with a clear spindle ioun stone slotted inside.
The woman, sans her wild appearance, matches the appearance of the portrait in Eddington Keel’s secret room.
The woman—Kyalla—opens her eyes as Jordan unties her, and proceeds to thrash wildly, screeching in a simian call.
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"Hush Kyalla - we are Pathfinders and we are here to take you home," Arnaut says softly, taking a seat on the edge of the altar. He hums a calm tune, inviting the woman to join in. "I don't suppose you have a wish in that haversack of lifesavers?" he says jokingly to Zhu. "Poor Kyalla probably needs it after what she's been through. Or maybe you know of a way to reverse this?" Focussing back on the member of the Ten, he sings a quick song infused with magic. "Kyalla, can you understand me?" he asks gently.
Arnaut's words soothe Kyalla long enough for Jordan to undo the rest of her bindings .
The woman, free of her bindings, quickly moves to Arnaut, grabbing onto his cloak with one hand as she attempts to hide from the massive Angazhan statue.
Through various divinations, the party is able to determine that this entire room is unhallowed and the altar itself is desecrated, but nothing else of note is in the area.
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"Hey, umm, Sahess. That weapon there is adamtine, right? Mind destroying this place before we leave. Always been told by clerics and stuff that unholy things shouldn't stick around. Could cause a lot of trouble."
Otherwise Jordan will wander into the western room as the screams of hundreds of apes begins. He turns to the party and says, "You guys.....might want to come see this."
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"Sorry, but I don't think even a wish could help her now. Divine magic is stupid like that, especially when it comes straight from a deity like this did." She takes the wayfinder and checks inside, in case of some kind of final message left by the member of the Ten was recorded within it, or at the absolute least to confirm her name.
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"Well, if it took a deity to do this, then perhaps another could undo it," Arnaut muses. "The Eternal Rose certainly loathes the destruction of beauty - perhaps she would look favorably upon a request for a miracle from one of her clergy to restore another of her faithful. But that means getting back to Absalom - perhaps through the gateway to the Maze back at the huts?" He moves slowly to avoid startling Kyalla, making soothing sounds and stopping until she is comfortable before proceeding further.
”Most unfortunate...”
Eliza Petulengro turns the key to one of the guest bedrooms of the Woodsedge Lodge, sealing the transmuted Kyalla inside. Osprey, who has returned to Galt, looks askance, clearly disturbed.
”We cannot afford Venture-Captain Kyalla doing something she might regret,” Eliza says. ”As disrespectful as it is, locking her here is for her own good. But I swear that I will pool any and all resources to find a way to reverse this affliction. It seems that Adril’s agents are world-spanning; we must find him quickly, or I fear what may come next. I will try my best to contact Adril’s targets, but if Venture-Captain Keel’s situation was any indication, such contact may fall on deaf—or dead—ears. Speaking of Keel, I will see to it that the man is resurrected.”
Eliza bundles Keel’s frozen, fractured face in a cloth and hands it to one of her servants.
Osprey, however, wordlessly disengages from the group. He holes himself in the Woodsedge Lodge library for over a day. When he exits, however, he shifts into his namesake bird and departs from Woodsedge, flying off to who-knows-where.
Group: The PCs retrieve Venture-Captain Eddington Keel’s frozen, shattered body from his manor. Success.
Individual: A PC takes no part in combat with Condria. Success from: Arnaut, Jordan, Sahess, Zhu Li.
You’ve had a few days’ rest in the Woodsedge Lodge before Venture-Captain Eliza Petulengro welcomes you to the lodge’s meeting room, largely repaired since the Red Raven’s assault nearly a week ago. She is joined this time by a dark-haired man, slender and silent, clothed in a simple traveler’s cloak, heavy shirt, and wool pants. The dark-haired man stands behind Eliza as she gestures for you each to sit, a heavy chest set on a table beside him, a thick iron lock sealing its contents. Once you’re settled, Eliza makes a few gestures, muttering a few incantations before sighing heavily and directing her attention to you once again.
Eliza speaks: “The man beside me is one of my agents in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. He is not a Pathfinder, is not employed by our illustrious organization, and is my little secret. Therefore, you need not and will not know his name. He has spent the better part of this week gathering a host of information on Adril Hestram—his motivations, his reasons, anyone he spoke to in the Grand Lodge, and most importantly, the contents of his personal quarters.” Eliza reaches back and thumps her hand on the heavy chest. “All of that is in here. You can look through it if you like—I have—but it hasn’t told me anything I didn’t already know save one piece of information: I know where Odrian is.”
Eliza waits a moment to see your reactions and then continues. “If you recall, Odrian was on Adril’s target list, but it seemed as though Hestram didn’t know where Odrian was. At some point just prior to joining you in the journey here, he found what he was looking for. It seems Odrian leads a double-life—apart from being a venture-captain and, let’s face it, likely a member of our Decemvirate, Odrian is also Prince Odrian, the Thurok of Arl, a city high in the cold mountains of the northern region of—“ Eliza pauses for a moment. “Well,” she continues, “a city on the planet Akiton.”
Eliza pauses to let her words sink in.
“It seems likely to me,” Eliza goes on, “that whoever took Adril’s body from this lodge likely took it to Akiton, as neither Adril nor any of his co-conspirators have shown their faces at the Grand Lodge, and since it was the only other location he was seeking and hadn’t found when he set his plan in motion here in my lodge.
“I want you to travel back into the Maze of the Open Road, find Condria—the medusa guardian—and see if she can’t guide you to the portal that leads to Akiton. As far as I know, Akiton is cold and dry but you can breathe the air, even if it’s a bit thin. Go there, find out where Odrian is, and find Adril or any of his conspirators should they still be there. I shouldn’t have to say it, but I will: I want Adril alive, should you find him. He has many questions to answer and many deaths to answer for. Any questions?”
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Several hours before, Zhu Li, having received a letter, walked away from the party, locked herself in her room, and began a tirade of swearing spanning four minutes, twenty-three languages, and an impressive array of positions that anyone able to understand might question the ability of anyone not a protean or ooze to assume.
After which, she emerged from her room, tucked her hair back into place, and went to go gather some supplies, muttering something about "Damn Zarta and her damn innuendo."
In present day, Zhu Li walks over to the chest, opening it. "Perhaps something in here could prove useful later. At the very least you'll not have to repeat it. Shouldn't take long." With that, she begins to read.
"Oh," she adds as an afterthought, "I'm bringing Snowfire with me. Where is a good place for my manservant to pick up some food for him, in case Akiton lacks suitable fare for a horse? I imagine we'll need quite a lot of it, in case anyone else wants to ride."
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Zhu Li shuts the chest after a brief time, resting her forehead against it with a sigh. "Cayden, how can someone with a secret double life be so boring? It's like all of that information just slips through my mind like water through a sieve, leaving almost nothing behind except the tiny fragments of usefulness that Eliza already said."
The visit with Condria was little more than the medusa pointing you all in the direction of the correct portal, of which you all went through.
The very light twists and bends as you step through the red portal, time seems to stretch and pull at you, your skin tingles and then burns, and then, just when it begins to hurt, the world solidifies once more, only it’s not your world any longer. You find yourself standing atop a vast stepped pyramid made of enormous blocks of red stone. The pyramid has to be at least 500 feet tall and its base occupies nearly half the dusty city that surrounds it. All around you, down every side of the pyramid, red-skinned humans, their heads shaved clean and dressed only in loincloths and thin shirts, prostrate themselves on every step and chant quietly in unison: “Odrian, Odrian, Odrian.”
Just then a sudden, icy blast of wind tears across the pyramid, disturbing clothes, whipping at red flags, and causing the canvas roof above the portal to groan with age. Though in every direction beyond the city you can clearly see red desert, the air is as cold as a glacier and as thin as the highest mountains on Golarion. None of the red-skinned humans prostrated before you seem to even notice the cold.
But someone has noticed you: suddenly one of the mourners stands and stares at you from under a thick brow with large, dark eyes. Though he wears the same clothing as the rest, he carries a thick sword on his hip, a shield on his back, and a quiver with a few javelins in it on one shoulder. He regards you silently for a moment and then says, in perfectly unaccented Taldane , “If King Adril is yours, you can have him back!”
When he speaks the other humans look at him in confusion and follows his gaze to you all. When their sights land on you they turn pale-faced and speechless.
“I am Kol Voss , brother of Princess Verrish, widow of Prince Odrian, thurok of Arl—slain in his quarters by that cowardly beast Adril Hestram! If you—“
Before Kol Voss can finish, he is pushed aside (dangerous given the tall platform) by the crowd of humans that formed behind him as said crowd swarms you all! They tear at Arnaut’s clothes, grab for Zhu Li’s hands, and shout in an incomprehensible cacophony of what can easily be determined to be desperation. Women try to push babes into Jordan’s arms, the men offer their blades and kneel before Sahess in a sign of fealty, and all the while the crowd pushes in closer and closer, crushing each other and you all!
Kol Voss has had enough! The man unstraps his shield from his back, unsheathes his sword, and raises it aloft, shouting in a mighty and booming voice.
At this the crowd stops their advancement, backing down from off the pyramid—all the while never meeting eye contact with any of the Pathfinders.
Kol Voss sheathes his blade and faces you all again. “We musn’t stay here. That won’t work for long and they won’t leave you alone so long as they can see you.”
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"Too much to hope we arrived in time," Arnaut mutters to his companions, then clears his throat, whistles a quick note, and addresses the crowd. he says, voice cutting through the thin air.
Speech finished, he turns to the prince. "Kol Voss, was it?" he asks with the air of a practiced statesman. "We would love to take Adril back with us. Do you know where we might find him for retrieval?"
The crowd look at Arnaut in sincere confusion and begin murmuring amongst themselves. Kol Voss raises an eyebrow.
”You wish to reverse the mistakes of Odrian? The wretch made the Free People of Arl believe you Azlanti are gods. Well, if you wish for Hestram, follow me.”
Kol Voss turns heel and begins walking away without another word.
Traveling down the pyramid is a dangerous proposition and must not be undertaken lightly. Naturally, someone with magical travel abilities can accomplish it in short order, but those forced to walk may only move at normal speed and must take care to descend the impossibly tall steps one at a time. Anyone who moves faster than normal speed down the pyramid must make a successful DC 20 Acrobatics check or risk falling. Anyone who falls can make a DC 20 Reflex save to catch themselves—failure means the PC falls 1d6×10 feet down the face of the pyramid and takes 1d6 points of damage for every 10 feet of the fall. Anyone who falls is immediately helped up by a crush of red-skinned citizens of Arl who also grab for loose weapons, items, or bits of clothing so that they might remember the time they helped a “god” to his feet.
He slips away unnoticed.
”I know,” Kol Voss says as you catch up to him. ”That your planet is not called Azlant and that you are not Azlanti—slip of the tongue before. The Arlians worshiped Odrian as a god-king—I believe he compared it to what you Golarionites call a ‘fa-roh’ and they worship King Adril as a god as well, and his two companions as lesser gods in service to Adril. And I know that Odrian was a Venture-Captain and a member of the Decemvirate. This way! Since Odrian married my sister, he took it upon himself to educate me about his world. Little did he know it only made me hate him more.”