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"Damn it!" Castinus fairly spits out the expletive as the mage vanishes in front of his eyes, fading in the blink of an eye and reappearing across the cavern, to once again wreak mayhem from a distance. "I thought I had him!" His furious gaze sweeps across to the now considerably-less confident look archer, now abandoned by his master; "You, matey, are next."
With that he dashes to the other side of his flustered opponent, aiming to first discombobulate then eviscerate via a flank attack.
"Accursed Pathfinders!" Desimire shouts as Ichio runs him down and stabs him. Once more, he takes a step back from an assailant then shimmers out of existence only to appear several yards away.
Unfortunately, the Pathfinders are spread out enough, now that he's got very few places to go and he's clearly looking desperate when he reappears.
Whether it's foolish bravery or the fact that keeping his distance from Izlin seems to be a great way to get annihilated, the last remaining devil creature rushes the fiend blooded man.
He comes VERY close to scoring a hit (and the GM kicks himself for not having him charge) but doesn't quite get purchase on his target's flesh.
Ichio
Castinus
Aglorn Desimire -36HP
Gross Devil Creatures - Green -6HP
Crowe -31HP
Diazepane -12HP
Izlin
Kal'Ryon 6/43HP
Archer -35HP
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Diazepane will step back and throw a frost bomb at the archer, excluding Castinus using Precise Bombs.
If that hits (touch), DC 17 Fort vs staggered.
If that misses, he will still take 9 cold splash, DC 17 Reflex for half.
Diazepane will use Splash Weapon Mastery to make that an 8 so Castinus is undamaged. It will mean he splashes himself, though.
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By the Boneyard that was close. Too close. That's what I get for breaking my own rules. Sliding dual blades off his belt, the magus invokes the storm currents to once again infuse his blade. Running low on offensive magics. Two rime-laden spell remain, but will they be enough?
Addressing the lemure, "You chose your target poorly devil. Unlike the Ganzi, you'll find that I have teeth."
Crowe grins as he closes on the wizard.
Diazepane's frost bomb catches the archer and he goes stiff and rigid before falling over at his and Castinus' feet. He's not dead but he's on his way.
Izlin's attack devastates the last summoned devil.
A moment later, Crowe's attack does the same to Desimire, electricity and steel driving the last of life out of him.
A moment later, the devil that was on Desmire's shoulder becomes visible and crashes to the floor, bloody and broken. Teenoch reappears nearby, looking like a purple toad, once more.
"It looked close for a while there, but you disgusting flesh bubbles came through in the end," she gives them some faint praise.
The portal, when they reach it, is a giant concave slab of red stone with similar properties as Golarian diamonds. Several runes and sigils cover every inch of the slab in strange writing.
To the north of the Diamond Gate stands a stone podium, similar to the one found at the False Gate in the temple, above.
Crowe sinks to the floor for a moment and waves his wand at the rest of the party, ”Anyone know how to make this thing work?”
Crowe stretches and nods to Ketal, "Thanks, I needed that."
Then he slings his earthbreaker onto his shoulder and stomps down to the portal, "Some trick as upstairs to open it then? Maybe we can take some parts away? Would that work?"
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Izlin, disappointed his occult energy was wasted during the battle, sullenly crosses the maze of bridges to reach the portal. The tiefling makes certain to check over the dead wizard's body for any important or critical equipment along the way. He scans for auras as well as any tomes or ritual paraphernalia in the area of the arcanist and the Diamond Gate.
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After a moment of healing, Kal slumps to the ground- the formless chaos that surrounds more subdued than usual. He sits on the ground while he catches his breath, before approaching the slab.
Letting Izlin and Diazepam examine the magical nature of the chamber, he wrings his hand around his pole arm expectantly.
"I am still bothered by the societies instance that *this*" as he motions around to the fallen aspis archer and caster scattered about the chamber. " was the easy part. We have secured it all right, but now another team will get all of the glory."
Crowe snorts, ”The Blood Rift. I’m not convinced that’s worth a visit. And probably a part of the abyss?”
”Hang on!” Crowe turns to Teenoch, ”This is your kind of thing. Where does it lead?”
Betwixt them, Izlin and Diazepane discover a lesser extend metamagic rod, 2 potions of cure light wounds, scroll of invisibility and 6 +1 seeking arrows on the conjurer and the archer.
They also find his spell book stowed away.
Teenoch gives up her ruse now that she is so close to home. She takes on her true, winged form and flies up to Crowe and grabs the amulet around his neck, pulling it toward the podium to the north. She's not strong enough to actually move him but her wings flap quite near his face, wafting an unpleasant smelling breeze over his face.
She tries to drag him along.
"It leads to the Blood Clefts, a glorious land where the very stones weep with the blood of the doomed. Where you can always smell the iron tang of spilled blood. Open the gate, fleshies and I'll make sure you are made the pets of a kindly demon overlord who will only flay the skin from your body one or two times a day," the little demon declares.
Crowe shrugs, "It always had to come to this."
He allows the storm to fill him once more and grabs hold of the little demon.
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Castinus breaths a sweet sigh of relief, leaning on the end support of the staircase handrail. He mops his brow from his exertions sprinting up the stairs. "A close run thing, perhaps. Closer than I would have liked. He certainly had the edge on us, and turned the screw for a moment. How are you feeling, now? Anything broken?" He directs his concern at Crowe and Kal principally - he saw them take some big hits during the fight.
"The blood what?" He looks horrified at Kal's comment about losing the 'glory' to be had from traversing the gate. "Nope. No way. I've traveled the Inner Sea and beyond to complete the mission I'm given, but there's no way I'm risking my Bloody Crevice, solely for 'glory'" Castinus scoops up a handfull of the magical arrows for keepsies.
On witnessing Teenoch's distinctly unappealing offer, "What? By Cayden's left testicle, I'm though with this place and its horrors. Let's finish this monster now and be done here!" He draws his rapier and advances on Teenoch with fell intent...
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Diazepane isn't sure how he feels about Teenoch. He was ready to bomb Teenoch at the top of the stairs, but she didn't seem to mean us harm during the battle. She's not necessarily hostile, and she does belong in the Abyss. Diazepane has no qualms about killing her, but he'd rather her be sent back to the Abyss rather than leave her here.
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The tiefling perks up a bit at this latest turn of events. Perhaps I will have an opportunity after all? As the others silently watch, Izlin funnels occult energy into his dagger.
"Happy to send you home wretch. Knew you would turn against us, but did not believe you would wait so long. If you could not run off the Aspis that were here, what hope do you have against those who bested them? Your most opportune moment was to turn on us during the battle, then finish off whomever remained."
"Ack! What?! What's happening? Who's turning against who?" Teenoch shrieks. She's disappointed but apparently not surprised.
"I want to go home. You want to go to my home. Let's go home. Or did you just come to purge the Temple?" she says.
She doesn't bother struggling in Crowe's grip, his hand pretty much completely engulfing her and her tiny body frail in his grasp.
She turns invisible again, leaving a strange gap in the Bloodrager's grip.
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Diazepane may still have see invisibility (it lasts 5 minutes from when we were at the decoy gate). He'll give an update on what Teenoch is doing if he can see her.
"Our orders were to secure the Gate. And it looks like your existence makes it insecure. We're going to open the Gate to make sure it works, and then we're going to shut it down again for security. If we have to kill you to accomplish those things, we will. But if we don't have to kill you, we won't."
Diazepane looks at Izlin.
"Well, if we don't have to kill you, I won't. Can't speak for others."
Crowe pins the creature.
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Izlin cocks his head to the side, "To be clear, outsider, YOU tried to drag Mister Elberion to, and potentially through the portal. All the while you promised our souls to eternal bondage. Have no doubt that your continued existance on this plane is not gauranteed. However, I believe that every being in this chamber would be more comfortable with your return to The Blood Clefts."
Asthe team contimplates their next course of action, the magus takes out another pearl. For a moment, his concentration on the small orb is total. Eyes shut tight, he slowly balls up his hand into a fist. He inhales sharply. His features and body relax as he exhales. Eyes open wide and alert as he slides the precious sphere away.
It takes shockingly little rope to tie the tiny creature up, in fact the pile of leftover rope is bigger than she is.
"Infernal Lords save me from crazy mortals! You're not being very clear at all! Do you really think I'm stupid enough to try to drag this slab of meat through the portal? He's about a million times my size! I might as well have tried to pull the whole sphinx through. I just got over excited in trying to get him to hurry the process of opening the portal up."
"And I was promising your souls easy eternal bondage. What do you think is going to happen to you when you get to Hell? Do you think mortals just set up those ridiculous stores where you sell dead animals and plants and that bread stuff you stick in your maws? Of course you'll be in eternal bondage. I was going to find some people who weren't going to make it so bad."
As Izlin prepares to toss Teenoch through the gate, Crowe casts a spell in case anything nasty is ready to come the other way.
Once activated, a vortex of blood-red sand swirls from the Diamond Gate before violently sucking in on itself. A loud hum resonates throughout the chamber and a crimson glow pulsates from the portal.
"Thank you, you disgusting flesh bags!" Teenoch calls out as she is hurled through the gateway.
Almost as soon as the amulet is removed the gate snaps closed severing the rope hanging across it far more cleanly than any blade could have.
The Pathfinders make their way back through the Sphinx Temple, the whole place eerily quiet now that they're the only living things in it.
Once outside, it easy enough to find their Interdimensional Eddies and a moment later, they're back under the Grand Lodge in Absalom.
Marcus Farabellus waits only long enough to get confirmation they found what they were looking for and were successful before a cadre of well armed Pathfinders move up to the Tapestry and touch it, disappearing almost as one.
"Good job, Pathfinders. I assume you didn't have any trouble?" he says, after the security force has gone in to ensure the Aspsis don't retake the temple.
”The portal goes to the abyss: the blood clefts.”
Crowe shrugs, ”Seems like a terrible idea.”
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The Ganzi looks at the deep crimson stains on his bright white cloak, and then back at the master of swords. "No problems at all, what would give you that impression? As an aside, do Pathfinder's still have a discount with the lady who does the magical cleaning down by the docks?"
His slight chuckle grows into a full laugh and his signature wide, somewhat devious, grin.