Giovanni's strike would have almost hit the hobgoblin follower of the goddess of undeath but in the last moment the mist obscures his vision and he misses!
The others are still figuring out what to do and Van sees that more strength is needed and casts a spell on himself.
The airblast hits the hobgoblin right in the chest and ...
... you can hear how her concentration breaks and the summoning spell fizzles!
She cries out in pain and anger.
She then steps back and casts a spell on Giovanni who was standing next to her.
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Pai heard an angry cry of pain almost directly in front of her. Almost reflexively, she gathers power, drawing arcs of crackling and booming lightening into herself through the mist. Her eyes take on an otherworldly glow as the power fills her being. Then, with a sudden outward shove of her arm, she releases everything she has into a thunderous electrical strike at the spot where the scream originated.
Pai‘s electrifying blast almost burns the hobgoblin!!
She cries out in pain!!
Suddenly, darkness envelops your eyes, Giovanni!
Van is strong and has good senses but the mist is treacherous!! His attack misses!
Pazacku's slashing attack tears into Telda's flesh and she is bleeding.
You hear her gasp in pain.
The next air blast comes near the hobgoblin but the mist obscures her form and the blast hits the wall.
Telda again steps back and tries to cast defensively.
Her magical incantations end with Van feeling a paralysing effect.
The last action of the air bender strikes the hobgoblin so hard that her head smashes into the cavern walls and ... her lifeless body drops to the ground!
The far end of the room, now that there is time to take it in, contains a stone altar.
Luxurious fabrics adorn it and the area around it, stained now with the spatters of blood and dirt from the melee.
Several dark candles and incense burners glow softly, their sickly sweet odor mixing with the tang of blood to make a truly vile miasma. At the base, several pouches and bags contain herbs and incenses for the burners.
On the neatly organized workbench, a number of tomes are stored. Their text is written in a strange tongue, mixing Aklo, Osiriani, and Undercommon words.
These books are religions notes on spreading the worship of Urgathoa to other goblinoids, as well as Serving Your Hunger, the unholy text of the goddess.
The fallen cult leader has a number of scrolls, including bane, cure moderate wounds, dispel magic, lesser restoration, and a wand of inflict light wounds.
She carries a magic shield and cloak, as well as a masterwork morningstar.
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"Ooooh! Look at all this stuff! We can pack it all in my handy haversack to take it back to the Society. I'm sure they can find a use for it all. So... it looks like we may have solved the caravan's problem already. That wasn't too hard, honestly, except for the mist. Man, that was annoying! Now I'm gonna kinda be looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop, ya' know? Anyhoo, what have we here?" The rapidity of Pai's babbling waxes and wanes as she works through the post-battle jitters. Her hands shake (just a little) as she inventories the scrolls and opens her haversack to accept the items.
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I have been blinded and left without remedy. I'm afraid I have turned into rather a liability for you. I will do my best to not hinder our progress. Giovanni feels shame for having been caught so easily without a defense of somekind or at least landing his rapier before the casting. Foolish He reaches out to Van's shoulder for guidance.
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At Giovanni's revelation of his blindness, Pai becomes all concern. "Oh my gosh! Poor guy. Come on, we'll guide you. There aren't any more doors here, so it looks like we cleared them all out, so you're not a liability at all! As soon as we've grabbed the useful stuff we can get out of here and back to the caravan. Then you can ride in the wagon until we get to town. Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. Oh, by the way guys! This might seem a little macabre, but should we mount her head on a pole outside the cave? Just to let folks around here know and stuff? ...Oh, crap! I'm turning into Van..."
The Pathfinders lead the way out of the now silent tomb, emerging back into the dark of night.
Nothing accosts the party as they retrace their steps to the graveyard, back along the trail, and finally to the hidden campsite.
Kazrin steps out of the brush as your approach to the camp, squinting against the light of the party's torches.
"Welcome back." he greets you quietly.
"I worried you might not return. Until late, I mean, but here you are. Come, we have some dinner ready, if you've stomach for a cold meal."
His smile is wide and relieved at the sight of the Pathfinders return.
* * *
The remaining Sczarni looks quizzically as the party enters the site. A small fire is banked, very dimly lighting the area and providing little in the way of warmth.
Jandri appears to already be asleep, and Alik sits by the coals, for once acknowledging the Pathfinders with a nod. "All quiet here since you left."
Kazrin shares the news of the campsite as he shares the cold trail rations and ale.
"I'm sure Jandri will thank you for the help in the morning. So, what of your adventure?"
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"Oh, man, it could've been way worse. We got kinda lucky. I mean, we found out that hobgoblins had moved in and were creating the undead so they could take over new territory or something. Anyway, the guys lead us to a cave that some wargs told them about, and I totally thought there'd be more of them. The hobgoblins, I mean, not the wargs. We killed them all, so no worries. They won't be raising any more dead, so the caravan should be safe now. Oh, and there was a haunt thingy that tried to turn us into mummies! We got out of there just in time. Man, I need to sketch all this!"
Pai babbles on in what has become a familiar fashion. One can only guess how she manages to transcribe her thoughts onto paper for her reports. The next day, however, as she sketches scenes from the party's adventure, it becomes apparent that her drawings more than make up for her scattered thought process for writing. Despite the bumpy ride in the wagon, the details in each of the scenes is amazingly accurate and informative. If a picture is worth a thousand words, only about 115 of the "words" in her multi-page report are substandard.
Kazrin listens intently, taking a minute to chew his meal before responding.
"Worgs. Talking wolves. I wouldn't believe you that it did not eat you, but for seeing the living dead myself alongside you all." he admits ruefully.
"We will break camp once the sun is up, and continue on then." He rises, meal finished.
"Wake me when it is my turn on watch, yes?" he adds as he moves to his bedroll.
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Giovanni is led to a downed log to sit. He instinctively reaches for the pair of glasses in his coat pocket and pauses, heh, guess I won't be needing those. He gives himself a wry grin.
He quietly eats some of the cold rations counting the minutes before he can get to a healer to relieve his situation.
The Sczarni look at Giovanni with some pity.
”I really hope he’ll be able to see again... “ Jandri says silently.
The morning arrives, and camp is struck.
The caravan makes excellent time to the next bivouac, and encounters no further trouble.
This pattern repeats over the rest of the journey, with only stray wildlife causing any difficulties for the party.
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On arrival, Jandri bids farewell with a single "Good work." to you all, while Kazrin is much more effusive ... as always.
They personally lead you to a cousin that has a friend whose wife knows a spirit that allegedly uses dvinine forces to cure deafness and whose power hopefully also can cure blindness ... and Giovanni is glad that they did not overpromise as his eye sight returns.
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In the coming weeks, Guaril Karela reports that Sczarni caravans appear safe once more, and that business is booming.
Letters of thanks reach you from the faction heads, congratulating a successful mission.