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Dran'Thil hits once, doing a solid chunk of damage...
...then Gruvok swoops in, channeling electricity straight through the unfortunate druegar's skull, causing his brain to boil.
With the duergar threat neutralized, the Eagle Knights and the party are free to celebrate once they return to the surface. Lieutenant Evanno is particularly impressed with the party’s feats, and offers you his personal set of Golden Legion epaulets in addition to Ghelib’s journal, to
commemorate this day of alliance!
"If any of you feel like joining the Eagle Knights, I would be happy to sponsor you!"
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Each of you receives a summons from Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss (NG female gnome harrower), requesting your presence at the Vodavani Lodge in Caliphas.
The streets of Caliphas are crammed due to an influx of refugees from the former nation of Lastwall; angry citizens of Ustalav are forcibly attempting to remove many of these refugees from the city; it seems that the number of people in need is endless...
When you enter the Vodavani Lodge, you are met with the cacophony of dozens of Pathfinders simultaneously discussing the current situation or upcoming missions. A scattered group of priests is prominently passing out holy water to eager agents. At the center of it all is Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss, who is deep in animated discussion with faction leader Gorm Greathammer, to direct various plans to aid the situation in Caliphas, while also preparing supply packs for her current mission.
The handsome dwarven prince waves from where he stands next to a heavy oak table. “Welcome,” he calls out, projecting over the sounds of the crowd. Beside him, a harried gnome clad in a blue robe decorated with golden crescent moons looks up from where she’s charting a precise path on a parchment map.
“Ah, you made it. Thank you for coming. As you can see, we have our hands full here,” Evni greets. “I believe you all should have received a letter from me containing your assigned destination?”
The gnome points to a flag on the map, marking a spot in the northwest region of Ustalav. “The Pathfinder Society has been given a special commission by the Palatinate parliament of northwestern Ustalav. There’s an old fortification in the foothills between Courtaud and Tamrivena by the name of Zagorstra Keep, built by the Oborov family and then abandoned when the line died out. The Society is to secure the keep so that the government can occupy it and use it as a guard post for the region. In exchange, the Society can claim any items of historical significance we find inside.”
“They’ve even provided us with an official eviction notice for any unwanted tenants that might be there, should it come to that!” Gorm says, pushing forward a bundle of papers stamped with a wax seal. “Though I doubt anyone residing there will be so easily reasoned with. Otherwise, why would the government be asking us?”
“The keep is the source of many local superstitions. We think it is likely to be occupied by dangerous creatures, so we’ve invited a number of priests to our lodge to provide holy water and other equipment. I think you would be wise to stock up on such supplies before you get underway,” Evni adds. “Apologies for the lack of better advice, but we didn’t get a chance to investigate the site as thoroughly as we’d have liked. You’ll be the first Pathfinders on the ground at the keep.”
“It’s a risk, but if it pays off, it’ll be worth it,” Gorm says. “I believe this keep may be the final resting place of a lost library I’ve been researching. If we find it, we’ll solve one of the great academic mysteries of the ages — not to mention the books themselves. The majority of the collection is over three thousand years old, which makes it quite the scholarly trove if any of it survived.”
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Bair pats his weapons, "Undeahd? I godda sumtin fer dat. Slong dere ehn't devahs."
He picks up a couple flasks from the clerics though, one that has the picture of a snake's poison dripping mouth with a big red slash through it. The other with a similar red slash, but instead with a dumb elf's face covered in festering boils.
"Addy, DC sounds likah missun fer y'all, findda booksan readda books. Usada fancy lettah ifn stapped. Ya sure ya gonna needame heah?"
Thorax looks down to his side as his daughter Orica tugs on his shirt. "Yess, promised you can look at books, and promise daddy keep. Rest of us be busy cutting down zombies and other nasties."
Thorax waits patiently for the Venture Captain to have a moment free. "What you know about Oborov family? They worship devils? Make undead? Grow vegetables? Any of those will kill you."
Thorax will purchase two Holy Waters.
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"No idea whatsoever," Gorm notes cheerfully. "That is part of why this is all so exciting!"
The journey through the Palatinates is quick and uneventful. Though the local forests are being soaked by summer thunderstorms, the trip out to the keep is relatively calm.
Lightning illuminates the rain-slicked walls of the stone keep, casting the fortified facades in striking relief. The roof of Zagorstra Keep is slanted at a strange, asymmetrical angle from the walls, making the building disconcerting to look at. The faint and haunting chords of a pipe organ can be heard beneath the downpour, granting an eerie ambiance to the approach...
Immediately upon entering the keep, you find yourselves in a laboratory room with a raised dais in the middle and arcane pillars lining the walls. The dais slopes upward to a platform 10 feet above the ground — the transparent walls of the dais pulse and swirl with an uncanny reddish liquid. Thick iron chains connect the dais platform to the ceiling, where a hole in the roof allows periodic lightning flashes to illuminate the room at regular intervals.
The pillars at the front of the entrance hall suddenly hum to life, power flowing through them to create a low-pitched chord that flows throughout the keep. The pillars next to them light up a second later, playing a higher-pitched chord that forms a discordant harmony. Set by set, the pillars leading to the swirling red dais ignite, each rising in pitch to create a sinister cacophony. Suddenly, lightning strikes the top of the dais, and a hulking figure slowly stands, its movements jerking and ungainly with unlife!
The Thing lurches forward, and slams at Bair...
...knocking the wind out of him.
Meanwhile, the lightning platform continues to crackle ominously...
FG (-)
Thorax (-)
Dran'Thor (-)
Adalan (-)
Bair (-28)
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Adalan waits until his allies have finished their attacks, then casts a spell of his own. With a twirl of his hand he creates a ring of jagged, glowing lines on the floor around the creature. They undulate and hum with increasing intensity until a translucent barrier springs up from the circle and tries to form an unbroken dome over the monster. While it is hopefully trapped, Adalan begins moving towards the dais to disrupt whatever effect animated it.
Thorax ducks and dodges around the thing to disable the platform... Or at least to be better situated for a flank with the Smilodon after Bair drops.
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Thorax scuttles around the foe, and moves up onto the lightning platform, drawing thieves tools as he goes.
Dran'Thor sends a bolt of electricity into the stitched-flesh creature...
...but it completely ignores it.
The smilodon's jaws, on the other hand, do *some* damage.
Adalan tries to envelop the creature in a globe of force, which it completely ignores; he then comes to the realisation that this is a Flesh Golem, making it (largely) immune to magic...
Bair rages and takes a swing, dealing a nasty blow which splits its hide, but does not draw blood.
It responds by trying to pound Bair into the ground.
Luckily, he manages to avoid all but one of its swings.
FG (-34)
Thorax (-; Fort save)
Dran'Thor (-)
Adalan (-)
Bair (-37)
"Hey Dran'Thor! Stand over here and your beard will get all frizzy!"
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Thorax is dragged to the centre of the platform, which is quickly raised 30' up into the air, where Thorax then takes a direct lightning bolt hit!
Dran'Thor simply orders his cat to attack, but it cannot find a weak point in the monster's hide.
Bair then moves to a flank, and keeps swinging, landing two solid hits.
FG (-69)
Thorax (-36)
Dran'Thor (-)
Adalan (-)
Bair (-37)
"YEOUCH!!"
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Thorax easily grounds the electricity , negating the risk of further lightning strikes. He then soothes his electrical burns.
Adalan moves around, and slaps some bandages on Bair.
The Flesh Golem continues to try and pound Bair into goblin-burger-meat...
...landing two solid blows, which definitely cracked some ribs.
FG (-69)
Thorax (-10; 30' up)
Dran'Thor (-)
Adalan (-)
Bair (-70)
"Good thing Goblins known for being bouncy."
Thorax clicks the heels of his Boots of Bounding before performing a Quick Jump, landing feet closer to the battle (and squarely on his face).
He then stands, licks the blood off his nose, and closes into melee.
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Thorax jumps off the platform, landing face-first, then picks himself up, and moves back towards the combat.
Dran'Thor's cat keeps missing, but the healing energy he channels into Bair is very welcome.
Adalan makes Bair's hide turn stone-like.
Bair keeps swinging, but unused to his new hard shell, keeps missing.
The Golem remorselessly keeps pummelling Bair...
...almost, but not quite, undoing all of Dran'Thor's healing.
FG (-69)
Thorax (-24)
Dran'Thor (-)
Adalan (-)
Bair (-57; Stoneskin 18 minutes)
Thorax joins in the slog, quickdrawing his dogslicer and targeting the giant's ankles.
"Just so Thorax understand... This giant stitched together... Out of meat? Why not every evil castle have one of these??"
+1 Striking Shifting Dogslicer :
+1 Striking Shifting Dogslicer :
+1 Striking Shifting Dogslicer :
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"Golems like this one take a fair amount of magical expertise to create, not to mention esoteric ingredients. If you tried to make one purely out of meat I don't think the result would be quite as dangerous."
Adalan turns his attention to Thorax's wounds, then channels the power of a talisman he wears to guide both goblins' weapons toward their target.
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Thorax, apparently still feeling a little disoriented from his shock and fall, blearily misses.
Dran'Thor's cat manages to shred preserved flesh a bit.
Adalan binds Thorax's wounds, then encourage Thorax and Bair with occult whispers.
Bair then *barely* scores a single, solid hit.
The Golem staggers for a moment, then continues to lay into Bair...
...landing two solid hits.
FG (-119)
Thorax (-2)
Dran'Thor (-)
Adalan (-)
Bair (-82; Stoneskin 16 minutes)
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So, Adalan, do you mean that people living here are quite strong in the magical crafting?
The question is sent in the fight as a sharpened knife. But to take down this thing which strikes deliberately and strongly as well, they will have to use something else than words. Indeed.
Okay, finish it now!
Claw:
Damage, sneak:
Claw:
Damage, sneak:
Claw:
Damage, sneak:
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Between them, Bair and the cat manage to shred the Golem into inanimate chunks of preserved flesh.
This large, 5-foot-deep pit in the floor serves as the drainage pit for fluids from the experiments in the main chamber.
This circular steel portal measures 10 feet across and is sealed tight via clockwork mechanics.
Dran'Thor and Thorax note that tree roots have begun crumbling a number of the walls in this section of the keep.
This room contains 8 undead skeletons dressed in fancy servant garb.
Searching this room reveals a trove of musical instruments, including most any common instrument you might be looking for, such as lutes, piccolos, harps, and more. The instruments are well-crafted, some created by famous instrument makers!
This hallway and the identical hallway to the south have stone slits that look out into the main entry hall.
This section of the keep hums with an uncanny pitch that changes in tone as living creatures move through it. Bones have been strategically placed at various points on the stone floor, and strange metal antennae are laced throughout the walls.
Creatures that pass through the rooms inadvertently create an aimless, haunting music as they move.
Everyone notices that tree roots have begun crumbling a number of the walls in this section of the keep.
This room contains a disturbingly large collection of corpses.
Most are humanoid, but a few giant corpses, all missing their hands, are also laying in the pile. The corpses have been neatly embalmed; the organs have been removed, encrusted in salt, and placed in a separate pile on top of a burlap tarp against the far eastern wall.
Bair and Dran'Thor notice that tree roots have begun crumbling a number of the walls in this section of the keep.
Searching through the pile of embalmed corpses, Adalan discovers a grim trophy — a mummified hand with gemstones embedded in the knuckles!
Dran'Thor also spots a noble crest decorating the far southeastern wall. The crest clearly reads “Oborov” and features a sword piercing a heart, with strange rainbow squares of colors scattered throughout the design: one red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Adalan, Bair, and Thorax each recall that the rainbow squares are not normally part of the Oborov noble crest. Experimenting with the crest reveals that the rainbow squares can be depressed like buttons...
When Jydno moves to butcher the Golem, Thorax reluctantly sighs and shakes his head.
"Too many preservatives and dyes. Organic better."
As they move through the hallways, Thorax is constantly twitchy when a wire moves or a note plays. Been long time since played music.
And when they reach the rainbow puzzle, he scrunches his face at the task. "Rainbow obvious. Probably not trap. Maybe secret door entrance."
x 2 = 70
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Thorax levers apart the locking mechanism behind the crest, revealing a small safe containing a stash of rubies and snowflake onyx!
As an encore, he then spends some time patching up Bair's wounds.
Thorax (-2)
Dran'Thor (-)
Adalan (-)
Bair (-12)
This room appears to be a makeshift office of sorts. It contains a few scattered and crumpled note papers, blank parchment, writing tools, a series of wrenches in different sizes, and a half-full mug of lukewarm beer. Examining the notes reveals them to be a series of thoughts about the musical traditions of nocturnes, except that the note-writer evidently quit and started over anytime they made a mistake while writing. The stairs in the western part of this chamber lead 15 feet down and stop abruptly at a wall.
The room's only current occupants are a feral black house cat, and her four small kittens, who hiss angrily, and attempt to flee from anyone who interacts with them.
Underneath the table where the kittens are is a small cat bed made out of ragged clothing, a dish of clean water, a box filled with dirt, and a plate that appears to contain delicate slices of human liver for the cats to eat...
As Thorax's daughter gushes over the sight of the kittens and his son starts licking his lips, Thorax interrupts them both.
"Dran'Thor, you speak kitty. Ask them who feeds them?"
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Adalan adds his own medicinal efforts to Thorax's healing of Bair.
Once in the unsettling office, he begins walking around the room casting a series of minor divinations designed to locate any magical auras it might contain. Adalan also examines the stairs and wall at their base carefully, looking for anything hidden.