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To her surprise, Ansha is sure she sees no figure lurking or hiding in the foliage. Curious! If indeed there is something there affecting Lin Fen Hai it doesn't appear to be anywhere in sight.
Eager to protect his High Priest, the red guard blinks out of existence for a moment, just as his yellow garbed comrade just did. He then immediately blinks back into sight directly in front of Carrina, and quickly slashes at the fortune teller, carving into the unsuspecting woman with his impressive double-bladed sword.
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"Although I am reluctant to suggest this but we could just use the cover Spackle has provided for us and retreat from the town until whatever is controlling Lin Fen Wai stops. These controlling magics can't go on forever."
Not seeing anything reveal itself (of course it must be high level magics to deceive the keen eyes of the elf) Dryden sets himself up in a position that can better the chances of the company to live through this debacle.
"You are slow and walk like a turtle on two legs. Turn so that I can see you. I cannot see you with that ridiculous helmet on your head."
At 1st level, a spell dancer gains the ability to expend 1 point from his arcane pool as a swift action to gain a +10 enhancement bonus to his movement rate and a +2 dodge bonus to Armor Class against attacks of opportunity provoked by moving through threatened spaces for 1 minute. For every four levels beyond 1st, the spell dancer gains another +10 enhancement bonus to movement and +2 to AC against attacks of opportunity provoked from movement. At 5th level, once per spell dance as a swift action, the spell dancer may use one of the following on himself as a swift action: blur, fly, or haste. These abilities last for 1 round. At 9th level, the spell dancer may instead take a swift action to use dimension door as a spell-like ability once during a spelldance. At 13th level, the spell dancer may instead choose to take a swift action to gain freedom of movement for 1d4 rounds.
This ability replaces the magus’s ability to expend points from his arcane pool as a swift action to grant any weapon he is holding magic bonuses for 1 minute.
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"Oh for cryin' out loud...I'm just gonna to knock her out!" Fade growls as he steps to the side and gathers the priestess' sword up in a sizable mass of aether. With both arms outstretched, he sends the blade hurtling back toward the holy woman. He does his best to pull his attack back a bit at the last moment so as not to do lethal damage to the priestess, despite his visible frustration at the woman's words.
"That might have landed a bit harder than I meant it to..." Fade says to no one in particular, nodding his head with concern. Glad I didn't empower and maximize that one. he thinks to himself.
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Dryden makes his way around to strike at the red armoured guard with the flat of his blade, winding the man with a strike to the ribs. The guard obliges, turning to face him. "Turtle, you say? Have you seen a turtle with a sting like this?" He maneuvers his double bladed sword around ready to strike back at the magus.
Serres brings the High Priest's sword flying over the ground and into her back. It strikes her in the back of her head, with a sickening crunch. Her limp body slumps over onto the ground, lying precariously on the edge of the stream as it is about to roll down into the river.
"You will pay for that!" roars the guard in yellow as he continues on his way over the bridge, to strike at Serres once he spots him through the thick fog, slicing a wound down his arm.
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Carina chokes back a scream as she's struck with the blade. The urge to flat out try to murder the high priestess rises with the blow, only to dissipate when Fade strikes her with her own weapon and she falls. Turning to the guard that Dryden has now claimed the attention, she darkly smirks before weaving a little as she casts another spell.
"No no no. You shouldn't be concerned about us. You should be concerned about that," She exclaims, as she points to a seemingly random direction, only for the awful shadow beast she fought with the last time she was in the tapestry to suddenly appear from the mists.
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The Pathfinders continue to pull out every trick in the book to keep the guards at bay without spilling unnecessary blood. Malusha's spell causes the yellow guard's impressive weapon to shatter into pieces, the bits of the sword splashing down into the river like a shower of pebbles. The man grunts in frustration as he looks down at his now empty hands.
The guard in red suddenly recoils in pure horror as it spins in the direction that Carrina just pointed. His eyes widen and he lets out a blood-curdling scream, as he grips his sword tight in a defensive gesture.
The blue guard steps into the mist, seeing the shape of one of the High Priest's attackers in front of him. He swings first with one end of his double-bladed sword, then brings up the other in a double strike.
With his first strike he manages to inflict a thin wound onto the half-elf's other arm, to match the one he received from the other guard, and with his second he inflicts a stinging wound across Serres's chest.
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The enchantress turns and catches the eye of the double blade-wielding guard. Tears welling up in her eyes, she says to him, "Stop this senseless violence! There is no need for bloodshed!" Behind her words, a powerful enchantment begins to take hold of the guard's mind, compelling him to terrible remorse () over his aggressions against the enchantress and her companions.
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The blue armored guard suddenly looks consumed with grief, tears welling up in his eyes. "NOOO! What have I done? I've brought dishonour to myself, my family, and the whole village!" It looks like he is so consumed with remorse that he's more likely to do himself harm than he is the group of Pathfinders.
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Taking advantage of the fact that the gold armored guard has no intact weapon in hand, the bard scampers past him and across the log.
Oh this is a dangerous game Ah'm 'bout ta be tryin'.
He call back through the clouds "Hey Sunshine, Ah got yer boss here, 'n a real sharp knife to 'er throat. Ifin ya don't stop, suren she's ta be forfittin' 'er life. Call off yer boys 'n let's talk."
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With the battle going against them, leaving one disarmed, one terrified and the other consumed with remorse, Spackle's threat to kill Lin Fen Hai if they refuse to surrender, proves quite compelling.
"OK, we surrender! Let's talk, let's talk...please, just don't kill the High Priest!" The yellow armoured guard puts his empty hands out to show his goodwill and calls back into the fog to his fellow guardsman. "Men, hold your weapons! They have Lin Fen Hai but they want to talk!"
Meanwhile, the red guard strikes out at thin air with his sword, too consumed with fear to attack the Pathfinders or to pay much attention to the apparent agreement between Spackle and his colleague.
His panic seems to die down a little, however, as if he could suddenly no longer see what it was he so afraid of. He is left panting and sweating from the terrible fright. "Are you sure Mengyao? Will she be safe?"
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Fade just hangs his head, letting it swing back and forth for a moment, before he unexpectedly starts to chuckle.
"Will she be safe? Will she be safe!?! You sorry lot attacked us, and still we held back from trying to hurt anyone. Trust me, she is safer than she has any right to be. You're welcome."
Realizing he isn't really helping matters, Fade just grumbles, "I'll let cooler heads explain things to you." and he quiets down so the others in his group can try their hand at diplomacy once again. He gently rubs the fresh wound on his chest, thankful his force shield absorbed much of it.
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With everyone seemingly staying their attacks for the moment, the yellow garbed guard speaks up once again. "We only attacked in defense of our High Priest. She claimed that you were in league with an evil spirit and we have no reason to disbelieve her. We would die to protect her...and would kill anyone who causes her any further harm!"
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The blue guard starts to cut at itself with its weapon, bemoaning that he has failed his High Priest and the village.
As his companion's sobs ring out through the fog, the yellow guard answers Ansha, his voice strained by the stress of the situation. "Perhaps not, but we do not know you. We only know that we trust our High Priest and she said that you meant to attack or trick her...and what is happening to my comrade in there? It sounds like he's still in pain! If you truly mean us no harm, will you let us take Lin Fen Hai back to the village to be restored back to health?"
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"Of course you can take her for healing!" Fade blurts out before consulting his team. "We said we only want answers and we meant it!" he says, slightly exasperated.
He turns to his group and adds under his breath, "Damn these boys are thick."
"Here, I'll even help you." he calls out in a slightly nicer tone.
He moves through the fog toward the fallen priest and checks her for signs of life.
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"You can hear your companion as well as I can. Seems to me like he's seen the light," the enchantress says. "And we still have no quarrel with you, so take your priestess and go. Only tell me," Ansha continues, gesturing toward where the priestess had looked before declaring the Pathfinders to be in league with an evil spirit, "What lies in that direction?"
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Their concerns solely to protect their High Priest, the guards eagerly take advantage of the offer to retreat back to the village, one moving forward to take Lin Fen Hai in his arms, the other moving to restrain his remorseful companion.
As they depart, the yellow garbed guard replies to Ansha's parting question. "What lies back there? The sacred flower grows further in the jungle in that direction...it has bloomed early, but it only talks to the High Priest!"
With the guards gone, the group uncover a trail of footsteps leading both into and out of the jungle from where they initially encountered the heirophant and her protectors.
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"Oh great!" Fade mumbles grumpily. "A plant that talks. Excuse me, a flower that talks. That's just what we need. And its sacred to these people no less. This just gets better and better!" he says the last with an exaggerated eye roll.
With a grim nods he adds, "Well I suppose we should get this show moving along and check this flower out. Just let's keep our distance from it, you know, so it doesn't start talking to us and then we start seeing things too, like ol' Lin Fen did."
Fade then heads off in the direction of the foot prints, gesturing for the group to follow, all in the hopes of finding a sacred talking flower...
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"We'll deal with that when we get there," Ansha says, moving off in the direction of the flower as well. "It couldn't be helped when the priestess ordered them to attack us without cause, anyway. For now, I have a feeling that this sacred flower may be a key player in events in the village--certainly worth looking into."
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The group follow the footsteps through the jungle. About 600 feet from where they encountered Lin Fen Hai, they approach a clearing. In the middle of the clearing is a large flower. A spot in the grass near the blossom appears to have deep indentations, presumably left from the High Priest's frequent prayers at the flower's side.
At various places around the plant, shimmering fields of color coalesce into distorted ephemeral shapes and reflections.
These are pscyhementals. As part of the fallout of a major supernatural phenomenon or mentally disturbing event, the collective unconscious of a population of psychic beings can give rise to a self-aware intellect that’s known as a psychemental. These emergent phenomena form on the Astral Plane, where they appear in the form of amorphous fields made up of fluctuating colors, shapes, and even faces that reflect their evolving thoughts and new perceptions as they attempt to come to terms with their new state of being.
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While the whole area around the plant seems to be a bit hazy as if everything in its vicinity was a bit blurred, Spackle recognises the plant for what it is...a violet etheroot masquerading as the sacred flower, an extraplanar creature that feeds on emotions. The shimmering lights are psychementals, strange beings arising from the collective consciousness of a population having gone through a traumatic event or a major supernatural phenomenon. They are very dangerous, able to wipe the minds of anything that they touch or pass through, not unlike a mindwipe spell, but upon multiple beings one after another as it moves through them.
As if sensing the thoughts of the group as they approach and realising its disguise has been discovered, the plant's mouthlike appendage and tendrils start to writhe and undulate, as if it is readying to strike out at anyone that may approach it.
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Malusha looks nervously at the psychementals and the etheroot. "I, I, uh, I've never encountered anything quite like this." Out of instince Malusha flicks the wand of bless from his wrist sheath and invokes its magic. Keeping a wary eye on the creatures, he pulls the crossbow he keeps strapped to his back into his hands. "I've cast a spell on all of you to bolster you against fear and improve your attacking. I can also give you each an extra measure of protection of any attacks against your mind but it will take a little bit of time for me to get to each of you."
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Spackle and Malusha start to boost the party's defenses, which seems like a good idea in the face of strange and largely unknown possible threats.
The swirling forms of the psychementals start to move, two of them pressing forward as if forming a defensive cordon around the big plant and readying themselves to defend it if needed. As amorphous as they are, they appear to change in front of the eyes of the Pathfinders, fluctuating between various colours, shapes and even the vague outline of faces.
Spackle, as he starts to rouse the troops, feels something attempting to probe into his mind...
You 'hear' or perhaps more accurately feel something whispering inside your mind. It asks just one simple question "Who do you fear the most in this world?". Succeed at a Bluff 27 check or you must answer the telepathic question.
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The bard looks confused a moment before muttering, "Got's ta say... there's bein' nuthin' worser than 'n empty keg." A close look shows the barest of smiles pass across his lips. Well, that ain't'n too far from the truth now is it? Still, ah'm guessin' that's not what its fishin' fer ah'd imagine.
"Mind yer minds. It's startin' ta do what it be doin'! Asked me 'bout me fears."
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Ansha begins an incantation, her hands weaving in the first spell-casting anyone with her was likely to recognize as spell-casting. Her incantation is quick, fired off in melodic Elven that flows like a fast-moving river current, and it ends with a flick of her wrist. With that flick, a small bead of fire streaks toward a spot just south of one of the psychementals. Hovering in the air for a moment, it then expands into a roaring ball of fire that engulfs all three of the psychementals, as well as the etheroot.
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Carina pauses for a moment before raising her scarf up again with one hand, while she pulls a bit of licorice root from her pouch. With a few words, the root dusts and with a quick exhale, she blows the dust over the party to give it some speed. After doing that, she pops one of her wands out and backs up a little, hoping for more time do decide her next move.
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Dryden's searing flames wash over the large plant and for a moment it looks like he has inflicted serious damage on the mind-bending creature, but somehow the etheroot seems to resist the magic and remains completely unscathed.
Having now been directly attacked, the etheroot goes on the offensive. Slithering along the ground on its roots, the creature approaches Dryden and then lunges forward and snaps at the elf with the mouth-like growth on the tip of the long stalk that protrudes from its centre.
Dryden easily avoids the snapping appendage, which retreats back towards the rest of the plant.
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The group seem content to try and take the strange creatures on from range. Spackle's arrow flies wide of its target and then Malusha follows up with a shot from his crossbow.
Unfortunately, although Malusha's shot seems on target, it flies straight through the psychemental's insubstantial form, seemingly causing no damage at all.
Serres lines up a telekinetic blast, flinging a loose rock towards the big plant at dangerous speed.
It's a solid blow on the plant, which writhes with pain as the rock rips through its pulpy flesh, leaving a gaping wound.
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The psychementals sweep forward, their swirling colours and ephemeral shapes hard for the mind to accept and focus on. Rather than psychically attacking the Pathfinders, they attempt to pass straight through their heads, threatening to wipe fragments of memory and consciousness out of their minds.
The blue psychemental follows the path, passing through Dryden, Serres, Spackle & Malusha. The yellow flies straight forward, passing through Spackle, Ansha & Carina. The red stays close to the etheroot, sweeping through Spackle and Serres before circling back.
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As the psychementals begin to shift and swirl, "Aw Dregs!" Then they start their eratic charge. "Well, this don' be lookin' ta be any good whatsoever." Who knows what they'll do? Can't be gettin' hit. Gotta get ta steppin'! The bard tumbles and rolls to and fro as he offers a brief prayer. "Next round's on me, next round's on me, next round's on me!" He dodges the first attack, then the next. By now he thinks he has the pattern and ducks under the last assault. He realizes if it weren't for magically enhanced speed, at least one of the 'elementals' would have hit him. "Thank 'ee, thank 'ee, thank 'ee." Cayden, yer fer sure watchin' over me taday! "All three 'o ya? 'Gainst a harmless wee ole me? That don' be seemin' like ya gotta solid grasp o' things. Well, y'ar being led by a plant after all."