"Wooden stakes shouldn't be too hard to make. There has to be some wood around here somewhere," Aurealia replies, impressed as always with Jaya's encyclopedic knowledge. She smiles at the mage.
"Holy water on the other hand..." She shrugs.
Kallie pats one of the bags on her flank. "I've got a couple flasks." It doesn't seem to lift her spirits, though.
"If we work quickly, finding and destroying their coffins will also work. After being reduced to smoke like those four were, vampires need to find their coffins within a couple hours to rejuvenate. Otherwise, they perish for good," says Galatea, evidently quite familiar with vampires. "As for this room, I think we've cleared it out. Once we get Brianne to the ground, I think we should be good to proceed. Some of the Council's agents are waiting outside, and they took the other three into their care."
"Wait, that thing was vampire?" Brianne says. "That... explains a lot. I tried casting a spell to make him back off, but it was about as effective as trying to charm a rock."
Brianne begins finish around in her satchel, which the derro vampires apparently never bothered to take from her. Despite the small size of the pouch, she somehow fishes out a scepter not unlike the ones that Jaya uses to enhance her magic. Brianne offers it to Kallie.
"Going by your dismay, I take it that you're an enchantress?" Brianne asks the centauress. "This should let three of your enchantments affect the undead. It can't boost something like a domination spell, but it should make a Suggestion or similar spells work."
"The trouble with coffins is that if they've hidden them well. There are a lot of places mist can go that are very difficult to find. But at least we'll know if that's a problem before they're able to return to plague us." Her eyes sparkled as she smiled at Kallie.
"And that's if you aren't able to persuade them not to flee in the first place."
After the captives are freed and safe, Aurealia turns back to the explorations. She wanders over to the south eastern door and listens at it briefly before opening it.
Kallie's eyes light up. "Wow! You actually have one of these? Thank you!" She takes the rod and slides it into a spot where she keeps her rod of bouncing spell.
She grins at Jaya. "Maybe I'll suggest one of them tell us where their coffins are."
She then follows Aurealia, watching close to see what's beyond the southeastern door.
Kallie's eyes light up. "Wow! You actually have one of these? Thank you!" She takes the rod and slides it into a spot where she keeps her rod of bouncing spell.
"You're welcome. I won that in a raffle. Archmage Eugeni regularly donates magical items to the Stone of the Seers. The staff typically distributes them as rewards or through contests," Brianne says. "Consider it a token of my appreciation for your help."
Shortly afterward, Galatea evacuates the apprentice mage to the ground via the Cheshire Express.
After the captives are freed and safe, Aurealia turns back to the explorations. She wanders over to the south eastern door and listens at it briefly before opening it.
Aurealia detects nothing concerning about the door. Upon opening it, she sees... an empty hallway going south. At the very end, there's a sharp turn going east.
Aurealia motions the others to follow and makes her way cautiously down the hallway.
The corridor leads into a long chamber, which resembles a dining hall. Swirling patterns of green and red decorate the walls of this larger room. The southern and northern drawings are the most distinct; the ones to the south appear to depict fanged maws, while the patterns to the north converge into an even larger, gaping mouth filled with fangs and a big, bloated eye.
There are several large tables scattered throughout the room. Most are outfitted with straps, a telltale sign of their true, nefarious purpose. In the middle of the eastern wall, there is a small alcove, which is filled with multiple boxes and crates. Each of them is empty.
There are two doors to the north that remain closed. However, all the others in the hall are open. Each of these ten side rooms contains two beds, but they are otherwise empty. Ultimately, searching the hall and the bedrooms reveals that they're devoid of anything of note.
"Hooo, boy. That's not good." Kallie says softly when she recognizes the images.
"We were warned about this thing's plague. Let's look around some more; maybe we can stop this before it starts."
"Right, nice catch," Aurealia nods to her centaur friend. She makes her way over to one of the northern doors and pauses to listen and inspect it before opening it.
Before she opens the northeastern door, Aurealia does not notice anything concerning about it. However, she quickly discovers that there actually was a trap, evidently one too well hidden for her to notice; shortly after she opens the door, two monsters materialize before her.
Both of the grey creatures sport an emaciated, six foot frame covered by bone-tight, slimy hide. While at a glance they resemble humanoid skeletons wrapped in leather, their digitigrade legs end in hooved feet, their hands are more like claws, and a single, giant horn dominates their bestial heads, which sport maws filled with sharp teeth. You can immediately tell that they're hostile.
"Boo-boo demons!" Kallie shouts. Then she immediately casts a spell, pumping up the difficulty to resist it.
If it takes hold, Kallie speaks to it in Celestial, "Hi! Could you come over here next to me and stay out of the fight? I'd love to talk with you more later!"
The leftmost demon answers Kallie in a friendly tone (for a demon), likely meaning that Kallie's spell has taken hold!
Aurealia hisses at the demons before opening a dimensional rift and stepping backwards into it, emerging next to Croq. She readies her polearm to attack the un-charmed demon if it comes within reach.
Croq once again starts beating her drum, and stands ready to swing at the non-charmed demon, if it comes close.
Judging that the Andosanas can easily dispense with a single demon, Jaya reshields herself to let them work.
For whatever reason, despite being heavily outnumbered, the remaining demon rushes to attack you without regard for his own well-being. As expected, he doesn't last very long against two seasoned soldiers and a full-grown tiger with magical support. Meanwhile, the charmed demon walks over to Kallie and stands next to her as requested. He laughs at how easily his former ally was dispatched.
With the demons neutralized, you have no trouble accessing the room they were summoned to guard. Inside, the thing that immediately draws your attention are the horrific paintings on the walls; they depict several hapless individuals being devoured by twisted monsters. Upon closing inspection, many of these tentacles creatures are actually mutated people.
On a less gruesome note, there is a bedroll by the western wall, the remnants of a campfire near the southern wall, and a table covered in paperwork by the eastern wall.
The charmed demon says something to Kallie in the same language she used earlier.
Kallie looks disappointed that her new friend will only be around for a few more seconds.
"Do you know anything of who left the trap that summoned you here? If so, what can you tell me about them?"
Croq looks over the art and shakes her head. "Duuuuude. There's a place for blood-and-gore in art, don't get me wrong! Done right it can be epically metal.
"This though, it's just...sad. Who even IS this artist?"
After giving up on the art, she goes over to take a look at the papers, hoping to find something useful...or at least more artistically redeeming.
'Yeah, this is pretty messed up."
Aurealia goes to help sort through the paperwork on the table.
Kallie looks disappointed that her new friend will only be around for a few more seconds.
"Yeah, this is pretty messed up."
Aurealia goes to help sort through the paperwork on the table.
Aurealia discovers that the paperwork is not written in Common. Also, there is a lot of it on the table. It would take a single person at least an hour to properly review it.
"Hey Jaya, can you read this, dear?"
"Oh of course. Let me see..."
Because of her immense experience in efficiently reading dense texts, Jaya reads through the many ledgers in about thirty minutes instead of the full hour it would have taken most people.
Right now, the Polymorph Plague can only be spread by ingestion or injury, which frustrates Leptonia to no end. Her current goal appears to be creating a variation that can spread via the air and wind. Thankfully, you conclude that the Sihedron Council could likely develop a cure for the Polymorph Plague if you give them Leptonia's notes.
In addition to all notes about the Polymorph Plague, you also discover something else concerning:
First, there's a report from a private investigator (no name given) that a Mr. Clegg Zincher of Riddleport purchased a three or so scrolls of True Resurrection about a year ago and keeps them locked up somewhere in his personal compound.
Second, Leptonia evidently spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get 21 people from Magnimar to Riddleport. She eventually picked the cheapest option: passage on a ship by the name of Sea Moth. They left at the crack of dawn yesterday. At the bottom of this paper, you see "ZINCHER'S AUCTION" and a circled date.
Finally, you discover an issue of the Pathfinder Chronicles detailing Argor Constantine's fight and victory over Runelord Krune. Rather worryingly, Leptonia seems convinced that a resurrected Krune would be grateful enough to help her with the airborne variation of the Polymorph Plague she seeks to create. Her endgame is unleashing said airborne contagion on all the cities of Varisia and beyond.
Leptonia's motivation for all this seems to be religious fanaticism.
"Shit on a biscuit! We gotta get to Riddleport fast...We can't let her get away with this!"
"Yeah, that's...why do people have to have such lame hobbies? WTF??
"Anyone know a fast ship? Or another way to get to Riddleport in a hurry?"
Kallie shrugs. "Beats me. Unless we can all jump in a bag of holding real quick and my friend can teleport us all there." She checks to see if the charmed demon is still with them.
"Mmm. Depends on the method with which your fiendish friend was called forth. Unless specifically prepared for a greater duration, I would typically estimate a summoned Babau to remain extant for approximately 54 seconds..."
Given his absence, it appears that the charmed demon has gone back to his plane of origin.
"We should probably neutralize this Og-Zeugus while we're here," Galatea suggests. "Being vital to creating the plague, neutralizing this individual will likely ruin at least that part of Leptonia's plans."
"Yeah, good point. Well, let's find it and get this done as quickly as we can."
She goes to the unopened door and opens it.
Aurealia opens the door without any trouble. On the other side, you see the ruins of a chamber that was likely much bigger and grander back in its heyday. Now, all that's left is a graveyard of shattered stone, mangled gears, and broken clockwork components.
"Alright! Let's see what's in here."
Croc surfs in, ten feet off the ground.
"Ooooh, hey! I feel like that sound of gears grinding against each other just started. Hold on a sec!"
If she's able, she'll reverse course, and head back to the doorway to see what'll happen.
"Could be a trap, could be a construct..."
For a second, Croq seems suddenly keen to... investigate the gears instead of retreating, but she quickly shrugs off the thought and falls back without any issue.
Jaya determines that whatever Croq heard could not be a mechanic trap; the gears and clockwork are too broken and timeworn for that to be possible. Perhaps, though, this phenomenon might be supernatural...
Aurealia leads the way back to the unopened doors and opens the next one.
After she opens the door, Aurealia and Cheshire flinch at the cloying smell coming from inside the room. Much like the previous chamber, this one is in utter ruin. You soon hear shambling footsteps approaching the now open door.
"So hungry..."
"Who's there?" Aurealia calls, whirling to point her polearm at the door.
"Doubtless it's an escaped victim, roaming these damned and dangerous areas in search of simple sustenance. Or maybe it's another of Urgathoa's endlessly hungry brood!"
Upon hearing your voices, there's a pause, and then the shambling footsteps picks up speed!
"I'm so sorry..." the man's guttural voice repeats. "So hungry... Feed me... or kill me... So, so hungry..."
"Doubtless it's an escaped victim, roaming these damned and dangerous areas in search of simple sustenance. Or maybe it's another of Urgathoa's endlessly hungry brood!"
"I think Jaya's first guess is more accurate," Galatea whispers. "Does anyone have any food we could give him? That might allows us to avoid..."
Aurealia pulls out some ancient trail rations. She shrugs and offers it up to the group, wrinkling her nose at it.
Seconds later, a rather monstrous fellow shambles around the corner. The brunette man's left half, clad in a roguish, adventurer's outfit, is relative human. However, his right side is anything but.
The man walks on three legs: a human one still clad in a boot and two that resemble those of Krodha. Resembling a Venus flytrap, most of the man's torso is a giant mouth filled with large, wicked teeth. He has no right arm; instead, two tentacles lash out at random, one covered in eyes and the other packing some sharp spikes. He also has a similar appendage sticking out of his left shoulder.
"Here's some food!" Galatea says as she quickly takes Aurealia's trail rations and tosses it at the man. Without hesitation, he zeroes in on them and hungrily consumes them. He doesn't see particularly bothered about how ancient they are.
"T-Thank you. I should be fine for maybe... ten minutes," the man says when finished, his voice now much more calm and focused. "My name is Isiah. Isiah Kalynn. Who are you? You seem too... kind to be with Leptonia."
Since his entire lower jaw is fused into his mutated side, when speaks, his Venus flytrap-like mouth does all the talking.
"Wow. She really did a number on you. Sorry, Isiah. I'm Aurealia. No, we're not with Leptonia."
"T-Thank you. I should be fine for maybe... ten minutes," the man says when finished, his voice now much more calm and focused. "My name is Isiah. Isiah Kalynn. Who are you? You seem too... kind to be with Leptonia."
Since his entire lower jaw is fused into his mutated side, when speaks, his Venus flytrap-like mouth does all the talking.
"What? No way. Like my sib' Aurealia here says, we're out to take that b#^ch down. We heard she's off to Riddleport, but if you have any tips to help us bust her, let us know.
"And...can we...do anything else for you?"
[smaller"Just...why? There's nothing interesting enough about the human body to justify an experiment like this."[/smaller]
Isiah takes a few seconds to contemplate Croq's question.
"Is there something you could do to fix... this? I would like nothing more than to escape here before Leptonia returns. However, I'm not sure how lucid I'll be once the hunger returns, even if I get more food," he admits. "I'd rather live, but... if nothing can fix this, then perhaps you should just put me out of my misery."
"We could try... subduing you nonlethally and then relocating you. We have allies outside who could assist with the latter," Galatea remarks. She frowns after saying this, clearly not liking the idea of hurting Isiah any further.
"That won't be easy. I'll probably lose control if I'm not instantly knocked out," Isiah sighs. "If only there was some way I could be compelled not to attack others..."