Kyronai shoos anyone too close to the goblet back. His voice is tight as he reports, "This may be the same liquid from Hermione's cauldron. The liquid that transmuted her, and probably resulted in one or more of the horrible beasts we've had to defeat. There's no telling what sort of effect it would have on a god.
"Varocles, can you pray to Poseidon to let him know about this? The gods should be warned of this potential threat. Praying seems like the fastest way to inform them."
Kyronai looks around for a vial of some sort or some way of storing a sample of the liquid, asking the others if they have one. If he still can't find one, he'll pour out a potion of cure light wounds, dry the inside of it with his robe, and do his best to collect a sample of the liquid from the goblet into the vial.
At some point, he'll mention that the discarded cloak and greatsword in the room are both incredibly powerful, but it's said as an afterthought as he's focused on collecting the liquid without it touching his skin.
Aikaterine has enough vials to take the whole concoction with them.
"So their intent is potentially to poison the gods?" She makes a contemplative face. "We still aren't sure who is behind this. And no leads from here except potentially finding where he went..."
"Should we try my spell again and see if anyone has any rumors about recently seeing him?"
Varocles will pray, as requested.
"Should we try my spell again and see if anyone has any rumors about recently seeing him?"
"I don't know. It seemed like your spell relied on me divining the rumors of the people around us. If the spell focused solely on this citadel, I'm not sure how much these soldiers and other inhabitants would know. And if they did know, would they even be talking about it? Let's leave it as a last resort.
"Instead, let's put these badges to use and utilize our..."
Kyronai considers himself, Varocles, and Amphytrion before turning back to Aikaterine.
"...your natural ability to talk to others. We do work for the gods, so we can say that we work for Ares. Let's see if we can find out who brought this goblet. Start in the kitchen, perhaps?"
"It is designed to work for the whole expanse of the city. Perhaps it was an arcane interference with whatever has been going on? In any case, yes, we can put our badges to use and head down."
She will look to the robe and sword. Not wanting to touch them and incur the wrath of the gods, she will seek to bind them in a wrapping of some kind.
"We'll snag these for now, as it is most likely us who will come across Ares if he's truly gone missing, and I'm certain he'll want these. I just don't want to touch them..."
"I really hope this isn't an all-out assault on the gods going on. This may not be the only one 'vanished'."
Varocles sits down to pray as Kyronai very carefully collects a sample of the liquid. Aika also takes care to indirectly carry the cloak and weapon.
After a few minutes the dwarf falls over as if hit by a hammer. After shaking it off he tells the group that Poseidon is very surprised and almost panicked if he didn't know any better. Suffice to say, the god of the sea wishes you to find Ares as soon as possible.
It is frightening to at one moment be flirty with Amph or chatting idly with Kyronai while Varocles prays, and then the next, he is nearly flying across the room as if struck. She jumps in shock, not only at his movements, but what he tells them.
"We must track him at all costs then."
Varocles struggles to announce, "must, must, find Ares."
As Varocles recovers and tells the group about his vision
Aika, Kyronai, and Varocles spot what seems to be a flickering shadow, but it is moving of it's own accord.
Aikaterine spots the shadow, and is curious if this is one of the fabled shadow monsters or if it is the result of invisibility or some other trick of the mind.
"Recover yourself, friend."
She will help Varocles to his feet in strength should they need to fight something.
Kyronai turns his bow in the direction of the shadow and fires off a magic arrow that immediately explodes in a shower of glittery dust to cover the shadow and the area around it.
Anything about that shadow?
It is definitely some sort of illusion spell similar to invisibility or the greater version.
Kyronai's spell reveals the form of a young woman who smiles and runs down the hallway surprisingly quickly.
A brief glimpse is enough for you to recognize her. Granted, it was from texts you have read from, but it looks to be Diskord? Or perhaps someone who dresses like her?
Oh, yes. I may have spoiled things a bit. :)
Aikaterine takes off after the youth and attempts to subdue her. She uses her mage hand power as she runs to disrupt the mysterious woman.
Kyronai looks at Varocles. "Help Aikaterine. We're jumping ahead."
The witch then places his hand on his brother's shoulder and murmurs something under his breath. The two half elves immediately reappear down the hall ahead of the fleeing outline of a woman.
"You know what do, right?" he asks Amphytrion.
Varocles casts longstrider and follows Aikaterine at a speed of 40'
Weighed down as he was by his armor, Amphitryon ran after them as fast as he could. He hadn't been of much help recently, with the others pulling his weight. He resolved to be more active in helping the group achieve their goals.
Weighed down as he was by his armor, Amphitryon ran after them as fast as he could. He hadn't been of much help recently, with the others pulling his weight. He resolved to be more active in helping the group achieve their goals.
Aika closes doors and tries to trip up the walking shadow while Kyronai and Amphitryon teleport right in front of it. The pair see a shadow with vaguely feminine features who seems to smile at them. "Cute trick. I'll make this easy for you mud people. If you want to see the show, it'll be in the basement. The main event will be a killer one." She says before the shadow fades away and she is gone.
Kyronai checks the bottom of his shoes for any mud.
"Mud people?" he asks in confusion.
"Anyway, is she actually tipping us off, or does she not want us to investigate the goblet?"
"And just like that, she's gone. How are we going to tangle with a being like this?"
She looks back to the room with the goblet.
"Well, in any case, I think we should dump it out so no unsuspecting servant comes along and takes a sip or something before we head down to the basement."
Kyronai can't seem to read the shadow's intent.
After getting some directions, you quickly head down to the basement. Armed, with weapons and magic, you open the last door at the bottom of the stairs. Inside see a barely conscious Ares, his skin looking pallid as he sits slumped against the far wall. Standing between the party and the God of War is a young woman, dressed in black leather with long black hair, tapping her foot as if waiting for you. "Took you long enough. With your short lifespans, you'd think you mortals would hustle. Luckily, the old man will still live long enough for you to watch him die." She states, drawing a curved blade from her belt, twirling it in her hand. "Oh, where are my manners? Eris, daughter of the about to be late great Ares. But I feel something like killing a god and taking his place deserves a name change, so call me Diskord. That suits me far better. I mean you've seen my work in this town already." A twisted smile forms on her face.
"Oh yes," she answers Diskord, "Childish foolishness, messing with people's minds with simple enchantments. At least your father has style. Something you'll never live up to, unfortunately."
With that, she unleashes a crushing force upon Diskord's bone structure, regardless of her divine nature.
Kyronai tries to do something he saw Circe do. He thinks he's figured it out. He briefly thinks about how sorceress would feel if she knew that he was using it to try and save a god, but then he thinks that maybe she'd be okay with it if she knew he were using it to hex a different goddess.
He tries to turn Diskord into a pig.
Swine (Su) (Heroes of Golarion pg. 15): The witch can partially transform an enemy into a pig. The effects of the transformation are mostly cosmetic and do not change the creature’s size category or overall shape, but the affected creature takes a –2 penalty on Will saving throws for a number of rounds equal to the witch’s Intelligence modifier (Will negates). At 8th level, the affected creature’s hands (or paws) turn into hooves, preventing it from using claw attacks or taking any action that would require the creature to use its fingers.
Varocles grabs Amph and uses dimension door to place himself and Amph between the wench and the god.
Diskord seems to let out a giggle as Aika's spell harmlessly washes over the demigod and Kyronai's spell is resisted. "Cute, now it's my turn." Diskord responds before letting out an at Aikterine!
She then turns around and quickly stabs at Amphitryon with her blade and attempts to misdirect the shadow warrior.
The whole party seems to notice that Ares is still stirring, as his hand balls up into a fist and his eyes open slowly.
Hopefully, the mockery of this goddess is short-lived as her spell finds a way to penetrate her defenses.
"You mean like your attempts?"
Aikaterine whirls around and produces the sword of Ares, wrapped up in a cloth. As the god stirs, she sets it before him or in his hand if he can muster himself.
"For you, my lord."
With elven grace, she brings up her hand and shoots an acid arrow at the woman.
Thanks to his comrade’s prayers, Amphitryon came out of thin air. Before his feet even touched the ground his spear was lashing out. Using his shield to effectively beat back any counter attack, he did not let up on his assault.
Aika fires off an arrow of acid, that is easily dodged by the demigoddess. Amphitryon recovers from his haze after being teleported next to Diskord and is able to land a single blow that isn't nearly as effective as he thought it would be.
Diskord- 16
Varocles will attack Diskord...
Kyronai understands that the party may be in over their head stepping between two gods, but perhaps there is something he can do to even the odds a bit. Diskord was about to attack another deity with her curved blade, so it must be enhanced in some way. Kyronai targets it with a dispel magic spell, hoping to strip it of any magical enhancements, at least temporarily.
Varocles attacks Diskord who easily dodges his swings as Kyronai's spell that also fails to disenchant the demi-goddess' blade. Ares' eyes fully open, the war god snarls at his daughter. "You stupid child, you have your divine powers because I will it. And thus I can take it from you!" He stands up, gripping his blade and slashes at Diskord.
As his weapon cuts her, the party sees her glow for a moment before that glow dissipates and she spits up blood. "Enjoy being one of these 'mud people' that you despise. At least they have the courage to not use poisoned Ambrosia like a coward!" Ares growls before falling to the floor with a thunderous thud. Diskord screeches in pain as well as frustration.
She then furiously conjures up dozens up knives that fly towards Varocles and Amphitryon!
Diskord-16
His delay had cost him dearly. Not only did Amphitryon fail to attack as effectively as he could have, but he was left staggered by the ear piercing scream that came his way. All he could do was shelter behind his shield and weather the storm of knives as best he could.
+2 vs poisons, spells, SLAs
Varocles steps forward and attacks Diskord again, twice...
Gasping in pain as Diskord's knives shred his robes and his torso, Kyronai manages to remain standing. Seeing as how she keeps resisting or avoiding his spells, the witch readies an arrow and draws his bowstring. Before releasing, he uses his blessed quiver to imbue his arrow with a charge from his wand of magic missile stored inside. Then, he fires.
Aikaterine is nulified significantly by such a strong opponent. Her spell power is not sufficient, despite her knowledge and history overcoming spell resistance. She instead focuses on supporting Ares. In her hand now comes up his robe, held ready for him to take and loop over his neck with the clasp. With both magical items, he may feel more like himself.
In the meantime, she unleashes produces a hasting effect on the god and her allies.
"Don't stand there acting high and mighty when using poison is a coward's weapon. I have no qualms with someone using poison against a devastating enemy, but if I did, when facing them I wouldn't act like I'm superior to anyone...what a joke!"
Amphitryon can only hold his ears from Diskord's scream. Unfortunately Varocles misses. Aika quickens the pace as she empowers her allies. Kyronai is able to land a magically empowered shot, causing a large bruise to form on Diskord's form which seems to only enrage her further. She leaps at Kyronai in retaliation!
Diskord-31
Success
Varocles stabilizes.