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Sahess, who wasn't in a hurry because she thought the rest of her party was just knocked out, sees blood leaking from Arnaut's nose in a way that isn't inspired by lust but in fact by blunt force trauma to his internal organs. She tries to recall which of her hands still has all the gems... left. She places her left hand over the bard's body and with an effort of will expends all the healing magic from the gems within him.
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Arnaut suddenly opens his eyes and gasps for air as he once again returns to life. "What the..." he says, whistling at seeing the absolute mess of their surroundings, then pauses as his eyes pass over his unconscious allies. "Umm, maybe explanations can wait." He closes his eyes for a moment before humming a familiar tune and once again instilling a sense of greatness and destiny in his companions. He weakly taps himself again with his wand. "Now, what do we have here?"
"A web, a sphere of force, and looters," Arnaut summarizes for everyone. "Alright, how long do we need to prepare before busting out of here?"
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Sorry about the delay.
Jordan bursts awake in a much less dramatic fashion and simply says "Oh great. Not dead yet. One of these days Pharasma may actually take me. Guess I've gotta keep suffering!"
Jordan pulls the wand of CLW from his belt (while laying down, yes) and taps himself with it.
"That should help for now. Lets get properly healed up before the servants all die before our eyes. I can Dimension Door us on out of here once we're ready. I hope."
"And whatever you do Arnaut, keep singing."
The elf turns to the gnome who threw the beads with a look of anger on his face.
”Why did you do that?!”
“They seemed like fun. I’ve got two more if—“
“No! We can’t touch them because you decided to throw those things and trapped them in a bubble, Dwale!”
One of the scallywags turns to look at the elf.
”Well, we can’t touch them because you put them in in the middle of a web, Cale!”
“I was taking care of it! I was going to set the web on fire and hurt them more!”
“And you didn’t think to tell us, the guys right in front of the web?”
“You’re out of range; it wouldn’t have hit you.”
“It would’ve if you couldn’t hit the far wall past all the webbing and your fireball went off prematurely.”
“I said ‘set it on fire,’ nothing about fireball!”
“Oh, come on, it’s ALWAYS a fireball.”
The gnome with the candy-cane rod smiles. ”Well, I got to do my thing with this fun stick—“
Everyone shouts simultaneously.
Rhis shrugs. ”Don’t know why you’re huffy, Cale, you’re the one who just told them what you were planning on doing.”
“Yeah!” Dwale chimes in. ”Besides, can’t you dispel the bubble? You said you could when we identified the items in here.”
“I said one could dispel it, I didn’t say I could!”
“Wait, are you saying that you can’t cast dispel magic?”
“No! No I can’t!”
“Seriously?! That is, like, spell #1 that a caster picks—“
“SHUT UP!!! These stupid outsiders have gotten the freaking upper hand solely because none of us can communicate effectively!”
“Also, why’d you cast arcane lock on that door but not the other one?”
“I SAID SHUT UP! I’m in charge here! All of us can buff while they do.”
Dwale pulls out a short sword as he moves back on the table.
”We don’t have buffs, though...”
“Well that sounds like a you problem!” Cale shouts as he casts a spell on himself.
”Fine! We can just wait to attack them until they get out of the bubble. Just don’t hit us with a fireball, Cale!”
“I make no promises.”
“What?!”
“You’re all rogues, you can take it. Now shut up and keep your eyes on them! Scallywags, surround me! Don’t want the squishy elf to die just because they teleport behind me.”
“What if they just dispel it, though?”
“Fine! Two of you stay there! The other two protect me!”
Rhis steps back to be next to Cale. ”I’ll protect you, Cale!”
“Thank you, Rhis.”
Two of the scallywags retreat to surround Cale.
All but Cale ready an action.
Round 8/9
Field Effects: Haste, Good Hope, Inspire Greatness
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Arnaut
Jordan
Rhis (readying)
Cale
Dwale (readying)
Scallywags (readying)
Sahess
Zhu Li
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Zhu Li pulls out a pair of vials from her pockets, drinking one and palming the other.
She studies the wizard in detail, getting ready to really mess him up.
Level 2: Touch Injection x2, Lesser Restoration x2, Barkskin, Skinsend, Ablative Barrier. Preserving Flask contains Touch Injection (12hrs remaining, holding Skinsend).
Level 3: Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Arcane Sight (12 min remaining), Displacement, Fly, 1 Unprepared
Level 4: Echolocation, Freedom of Movement, Spell Immunity, Communal Air Walk, Universal Formula (Not infused)
"So, is this the part where you explain to the trapped Pathfinders what in the Hell you're doing here? Because for the life of me, I don't see what use you could have for any of this stuff. The strongest thing here is that sword, and it's bog standard enhancement. Not even any good for a frame up, it just looks like a sword."
Move: Study the elf wizard.
Swift: Kirin Study the elf wizard.
Cale turns to look at Zhu Li and laughs. ”Please, we are here for the Galtan Way: the People getting glorious vengeance against the enemies of the Revolution—the contents of this armory was just an added bonus. And currently, you outsiders are standing in the way of the Galtan Way!”
The entire group laughs.
”It’s adorable that you honestly think that! I’ll make a little deal with you 'archaeologists': Defeat Cale the Calistrian in combat, and I may explain. We're all dying for some action!”
The elf's beautiful face twists into a cringe of disgust.
"Cute." He points to Zhu Li. "She dies first."
Jordan, not wanting to move from his space in fear of getting caught in the web, casts shocking image.
The gnomes/scallywags continue to ready their actions as Cale casts a spell.
Round 9/10
Field Effects: Haste, Good Hope, Inspire Greatness
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Arnaut
Jordan
Rhis (readying)
Cale the Calistrian
Dwale (readying)
Scallywags (readying)
Sahess
Zhu Li
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Zhu Li downs yet another extract, her wounds closing somewhat as she does.
"I was serious, you know," the Tien woman adds, drinking two more vials. "I want answers more than I want you dead. We don't need to kill each other here. It's not too late to walk away, leave the armory here. You said yourself it was a secondary objective, and nothing in it serves a unique function, even if some of it is rare." She reaches into her pack and unfurls a scroll, ready to finish the spell within at a moment's notice.
2: Spell Immunity for Fireball, Cloudkill, and Hold Person
3: Displacement
4: Move to retrieve Scroll of Wall of Stone, Standard to ready action.
Level 2: Touch Injection x2, Lesser Restoration x2, Barkskin, Skinsend, Ablative Barrier. Preserving Flask contains Touch Injection (12hrs remaining, holding Skinsend).
Level 3: Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Arcane Sight (12 min remaining), Displacement (3rd prep round, 10rds remaining), Fly, 1 Unprepared
Level 4: Echolocation, Freedom of Movement, [b]Spell Immunity (2 hrs Remaining: Fireball, Hold Person, Cloudkill), Communal Air Walk, Universal Formula (Not infused)
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Seeing Zhu's wounds heal, Arnaut changes to a different melody, more soothing and calming. He carefully picks his way through the webbing and touches Sahess before making his own form distort and shift to match Zhu and Jordan. A few more taps of the wand take him to the resolution of his healing melody.
Once finished, he changes back to the heroic melody and nods to Jordan. "Right up close and personal, if you please," he says to his companions, but a subtle wink betrays the hidden message - Back of the room, not too close please.
Cale casts more spells (in this order):
Round 14/15
Field Effects: Good Hope, Inspire Greatness
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Arnaut
Jordan (X5 rounds of actions)
Rhis (readying)
Cale the Calistrian
Dwale (readying)
Scallywags (readying)
Sahess
Zhu Li
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Jordan will cast Haste, Gravity Bow, Heroism (once on himself and once on Sahess), and finally he’ll start using Inspire Courage and then use dimension door
Arnaut and Jordan drop down two feet after teleporting as Zhu Li and Sahess are now standing on top of a table.
Rhis starts off by using his wonderful candy-cane stick!
A bolt of lightning strikes out at Sahess, Jordan and (unfortunately) the Blue scallywag.
Fail
Success
Success
The nimble Blue scallywag dodges the lightning steps up and attacks Zhu Li!
Sahess then breathes!
Then Arnaut’s action goes off!
”Well well well! What perfect fireball formation!”
Cale casts a spell and an explosion of fire bursts outward in a ball!
success
success
success
Zhu Li is immune
success
Cale stares confusingly at Zhu Li, who wasn’t affected by the fire at all.
”What the—?! Sneaky little—Everyone! Focus fire on her!”
Dwale moves over and jumps off of the table, reaching to stab at Zhu Li!
The orange scallywag attempts to stab Cale in the back!
”What the—?!”
The Green scallywag maneuvers over to be next to Zhu Li!
Purple, on the other hand, just stays in the back staring at the webbing in the hallway with a blank look on his face.
”The Red Raven strikes for the Revolution. The Red Raven strikes for the Revolution. The Red Raven strikes for the Revolution. The Red Raven…”
Rhis points his rod right at Zhu Li!
Zhu Li is now outlined in a pale glow.
Blue steps back over to Cale and stabs at him as well!
”Oh my—What are you all doing?! They are the enemies to the Revolution, not—“ Cale stops short and gives a murderous look towards Arnaut as he cradles his bleeding shoulder. ”What. Did. You. Do?!”
Round 16
Field Effects: Haste, Good Hope, Inspire Greatness, Inspire Courage +3
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Rhis {Confused}
Blue Scallywag {Confused}
Sahess (-45)
Zhu Li
Arnaut (-22)
Jordan (-33)
Cale the Calistrian (-37) {Bleeding}
Dwale {Confused}
Orange Scallywag {Confused}
Green Scallywag {Confused}
Purple Scallywag {Confused}
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Round 16
Field Effects: Good Hope, Inspire Greatness
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Rhis {Confused}
Blue Scallywag (-13) {Confused}
Sahess (-45)
Zhu Li
Arnaut (-22)
Jordan (-33)
Cale the Calistrian (-20)
Dwale {Confused}
Orange Scallywag (-12) {Confused}
Green Scallywag {Confused}
Purple Scallywag {Confused}
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"Me!?" Arnaut says, hand clutching his heart at such an unfounded accusation. "Why, how dare you let such slander fall from your lips! You wound me, sir!" He finishes his current song with a flourish that disguises the magic underneath, then shifts to something more sinister and frightening. "Paint me as a villain, and you shall see just how villainous I can be!" he cries dramatically as he steps towards the wall and strikes a pose of tortured genius on the verge of falling into insanity.
As Sahess breathes she finds that Cale stands amid the frigid cold and, despite his significant lack of warm clothing, looks completely fine! His associates, however, not so much. Dwale, Rhis, and the scallywags all look at Sahess with rage in their eyes However, the Blue scallywag falls down in a statue of ice!
Round 16
Field Effects: Haste, Good Hope, Inspire Courage +3, Dirge of Doom
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Rhis (-38) {Confused}
Sahess (-45)
Zhu Li
Arnaut (-22)
Jordan (-33)
Cale the Calistrian (-20)
Dwale (-38) {Confused}
Orange Scallywag (-53) {Confused}
Green Scallywag (-38) {Confused}
Purple Scallywag {Confused}
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For lack of an actual combat code, Zhu Li slips fluently into Draconic for Sahess' benefit, hoping that at least some of the opponents don't speak that language. Cale almost certainly does, being a magic user, but that won't matter if this all works out. "<Cover my right!>"
She steps forward, lunging forward to try and tag Cale with her hand and possibly end the fight through shock and awe tactics. After all, watching someone's skin slough off is pretty traumatizing.
Cale's spellwork staves off one touch, but Zhu Li manages to tag him with a follow up attack, injecting the extract into him.
She also takes in the scallywags to either side of her, examining their movements to hopefully help her stave them off.
The gnome is a surprisingly hardy little bugger, but Jordan’s last shot pierces through Rhis’s heart and out his back, killing him.
As Zhu Li touches Cale she feels an overwhelming frost on her body!
An ungodly rip resonates throughout the armory as Zhu Li forcibly pulls Cale’s skinless écorché away from his skin, throwing it to the ground, leaving Cale as an empty husk of who he once was.
Cale stares at his own body in horror. He stares at his own reflection in the sheen of the Pale Maiden. The elf emits a high-pitched wail!
”My-My beautiful self! W-what—?! How—?! You!” the elf points to Zhu Li. ”You ruined me! You turned me into a hideous freak! What little strength I had left is gone; I cannot even lift my own body—literally! You wench! You monster! You—! You—!!!” Rage leaves Cale’s eyes, replaced instead with cold and calculating hatred. ”The Savored Sting will guide me—I swear that I shall destroy you for what you’ve done!!! And if I can’t flee with myself, then I’ll take a souvenir!”
Cale reaches down and grabs the Pale Maiden from his skinless body
Cale notices that Orange doesn’t hit him when he leaves his guard open. The metaphorical gears in his head begin turning as he formulates an idea! Both hands on the Pale Maiden he places it along the flat of his back—whatever remains of it anyway—and stares intently at Zhu Li.
Dwale swings wildly with his stubby little arms at Sahess!
The Orange scallywag moves around the table toward Sahess and as soon as he moves Cale smiles wickedly as he steps back and says a single word:
”Bye.”
And vanishes!
The Orange scallywag continues its movement and strikes at Sahess!
The green scallywag moves in between Jordan and the table
He moves next to Sahess and attacks her!
Finally, the Purple scallywag moves over and bull rushes against a suit of armor to make room for himself!
The armor begins to shove its way into Arnaut!
But moves right back up as Arnaut shoves against the scallywag.
Round 17
Field Effects: Haste, Good Hope, Inspire Courage +3, Dirge of Doom
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Sahess (-45)
Zhu Li
Arnaut (-22)
Jordan (-33)
Dwale (-38) {Confused}
Orange Scallywag (-53) {Confused}
Green Scallywag (-38) {Confused}
Purple Scallywag {Confused}
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Arnaut just stares in disbelief at Cale's skin as it vanishes, his blindsight not detecting whatever it was anymore. "Rude!" he yells after the departing thief. "At least most audiences have the decency to stick around and donate fruit to the performers!"
The scallywag's shoving brings Arnaut back to his senses, and he shrugs. "Well, those that remain will just have to party harder!" he says, shock replaced by joy as he unleashes a metallic ball that sends flecks of glitter down onto the confused folks below.
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Sahess revels in the glee of slaughter. She starts laughing, and it's a wholly terrifying sound given that it's coming from a draconic maw as blood and ice scatter about.
Sahess wades through the enemies, starting on Green, then hitting Black until he falls, then laying into Orange should there still be malice remaining.
Sahess cuts Green clean in half with her first attack!
Sahess then goes all-our on Dwale, but despite all odds he’s still standing!
I went with the latter for his morale because, honestly, with all his allies confused as they were they might as well have been dead.
As you all look through the ajar door to the Courtyard you see a massive hole in the northeast corner of the rear wall. Some 300’ across the Lodge’s manicured lawn is a massive hedge maze.
First, there are a pair of moderate auras that are isolated to two five-foot squares: one right in front of the entrance to the hedge maze and another right next to the door to L3–the latter dissipates as Zhu Li is observing it.
Additionally, there are three moderate that move from the now-dissipated moderate aura mentioned previously, through the courtyard to the hole in the wall, and all the way to the hedge maze. Likewise, there’s a strong aura that moves from the moderate aura in front of the hedge maze into the maze itself.
”Please accompany me back to the lodge,” says an Eliza Petulengro who seems to appear out of nowhere. ”There are some things you should know.”
Back in the Great Room, a bloodied Osprey awaits for you all as Eliza leads you in.
”In pursuit of those archers we found that they fled into the hedge maze in the back of the lodge. However, the attackers fled into no ordinary hedge maze,” Eliza says.
”The Lodge’s books call it the Maze of the Open Road, and my own investigations reveal that it contains portals that connect to sites all over Golarion. It’s been here for centuries, and it’s extremely dangerous. I’ve been spending most of my time worrying about the rare curious citizen who sneaks onto the grounds and wanders in, but I wonder if I shouldn’t have been more concerned with what might come out.
“Before you follow the Red Raven into the Maze of the Open Road, we should investigate the scene of the crime and see what can be learned. There’s no telling where the Raven wandered off to inside the Maze. If you’re to follow him, you’d best do so with as much information as possible. If you’ll excuse me, I must attend to the...damages to my lodge.”
“I shall survey,” Osprey says. ”I shall return momentarily.”
Osprey’s form shifts into that of an osprey bird as he flies through the hole in the roof of the Woodsedge Lodge.
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Arnaut raises an eyebrow. "You sound quite certain the Raven fled to the Maze," he says carefully. "Pray tell, how did you come to this conclusion? And did you happen to see a naked man made of," he glances at Zhu, "just skin?"
"Speaking of which," he says with a meaningful look back at the armory, "did you have a plan for that pile of meat and bones back there, Zhu? And has anyone checked on poor Adril?"
Eliza, tending to her servants and destroyed lodge and taking an inventory of items within. ”Arcane sight. Zhu Li can explain.”
A group of servants haul the stuffed owlbear statue back inside the Great Room from out on the lodge’s front lawn. As they do the Lady of the Lodge pauses momentarily as she looks askance—she speaks bluntly without looking in your eyes.
”Adril Hestram is dead.”
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Zhu Li studies Dwale before striking out with her fist, attempting to knock him unconscious.
The man drops like a sack of potatoes, and the remaining scallywags are easily dispatched almost as a matter of mere proximity to Sahess.
She follows Eliza back into the lodge, listening carefully. When the Venture Captain explains about the Maze of the Open Road, her face takes on a specific look that everyone has probably seen on somebody's face before with regards to their leadership; confusion and frustration all in one, a simple cry of "WHY?" written across her features.
"So you have a maze with portals all over the world," she says, frustrated, "And you never thought that someone else might find one of those portals?"
Zhu Li takes a deep breath and heads to investigate as ordered, taking the time to examine the remaining auras, determining their schools of magic for herself.
That information acquired, she returns to the group as Eliza is naming her. "There's spells to let you see the residue of other spells. I can't identify the exact spell, but I can tell you the school of anything I can get a clear view of, and strong enough magic equipment leaves a trail behind you for a few seconds, like swinging a sunrod in front of your eyes in a dark room to write in the air."
"My best guess is that our theatrically inclined foe used a Dimension Door or similar to get out here, then sprinted into the maze like a bat out of hell," she continued, "But beyond that, I don't know where. And we have other options for information. Dwale, I think Cale called him, is still unconscious, and Cale himself, well..."
"If we can regrow his skin, it'll force his consciousness to return to his body. It won't retrieve the Pale Maiden, but he can't stop it. Or we could just leave him be; that spell isn't permanent, and once it ends he'll be stuck in a sort of... in-between state. Unable to do anything."
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Sahess breathes heavily, coming down from the energetic high of the battle. It takes her several moments to regain composure as her features soften, though blood still speckles her scales. "This timing is too perfect. You have been infiltrated." She states the obvious for now, mental faculties being one of the last things to come back online after a blood frenzy.
"Do we know anything of this Cale aside from being regrettably named after bad food?" The question is genuine, though clearly even Sahess noticed he was a spellcaster.
Eliza is so engrossed in surveying the damage that she doesn’t even notice what you guys are saying immediately. Once a gear clicks in her mind she turns to you all, red-faced.
”’Cale’?! Cale the Calistrian is a wanted criminal! Where—?”
A servant approaches Eliza and whispers in her ear. A shocked expression snaps over her face.
”There’s a what in the armory?!”
She swiftly moves away from the Great Room toward the armory.
Adril Hestram’s body remains where it was last seen: up on the balcony where he gave his Talespinning—or attempted to . A thick puddle of blood pools into clumps about the size of a human eye.
The vial contained some kind of liquid—other than that Zhu Li cannot determine what was in the vial.
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Leaving the dead to Zhu, Arnaut turns his attention to the living. While he waits for the bound Dwale to return to consciousness, he keeps himself busy by whistling a solemn tune and making notes on a scrap of parchment as he tries to remember any stories about Cale the Calistrian or the revolutionaries of Galt. As the gnome stirs, Arnaut finishes the song with a long, magic-laced note before turning to the captive. "Dwale?" he says slowly. "Are you alright? What happened anyways - how did you end up here with Cale?"
Dwale rouses from his forced slumber.
”Ugh...Wasn’t I trying to kill you before? I’m sorry, man! Cale said so and we can’t really argue with the guy. The Raven led us here through that maze in order to enact justice. We were put under Cale’s command to steal that sword he ran off with. He found some servants of this place and wanted to kill them because ‘The Raven won’t be the only one having fun today.’ We all shrugged and went ‘Sure. Why not?’ Sorry about those beads, dude. Wish I could give you some as a sign of goodwill, but I’ve got no more.”
”Well, we had agents infiltrate the place as servants. Word of the sword went around and, well, the Raven incorporated stealing it into his plan. A bit extra coin’s my guess why. As for justice,” Dwale turns serious as he stares into Arnaut’s eyes. ”The Raven was hired. He spoke to a man—a dead man—named Teppin Montrose. The spirit of Montrose stated that he was murdered and said that the man who killed him was a man by the name of Adril Hestram. The Raven tracked him here and made a plan to assassinate the man. Blood for Blood. Thus is the Galtan Way.”