Rexil halts mid-swing, reason returning to his eyes. He lowers his greatclub slowly, wondering why he was about to attack Praxim, or why Praxim appeared to be ready to shoot him.
Silas Vekker stands in the middle of the room at the bottom of the stairs. His facial features are curiously indistinct - he has no eyes, and when he speaks, his lips barely move.
"You...you are alive? You do not hunger? Ah...that is what I sense in your blood. Greed. You seek the City of Greed. You should abandon your quest, lest you end up like me. Cold. Dead. Eaten."
As Silas goes on, bite-sized bits and pieces of him tear loose and fade, a grim demonstration of his fate.
"But I suspect you cannot be swayed. Know then that I know the way to Xin-Shalast. I can show you the way, but I will do so only if you bring me my brother. Karivek died on a ledge in the mountains a mile's walk north from this cabin. I can feel his soul out there, still hungry, still insane."
The pace at which Silas is consumed in front your eyes begins to quicken slightly.
"I do not have much time. I am able to suppress my brethren only for so long. Bring Karivek's bones to me so that I may reconcile with him. Once he is at rest, I will show you the way to Xin-Shalast. Then, and only then, may I be at peace..."
And with that, the last ghostly 'flesh' on Silas is torn away and he fades from sight.
Watching until the ghostly figure completely fades away, Thordak turns to the others. "A mile's walk north of here. Looks like we've got ourselves our next destination. Let's move." The dwarf then pulls his longaxe back out and heads out.
A deep resonating pang rises in Everon's heart at the dwarf's tale. "I understand the suffering of familial bonds. I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to bring your brother back."
"We can right a tragedy and clear our path at the same time. The way forward is clear."
Looking abashed, Praxim returns his arrow to its sheathe. ”Apologies. I seem to have over-reacted.”
From up front Thordak can be heard saying, "It's alright, elf! Ya only acted as ya saw fit!" while continuing to move and keeping his focus straight ahead.
Thordak opens the door on the lower level of the cabin. A huge snow drift has built up from the blizzard, blocking the door.
If some sort of evil haunt or spirit is attached to the bones, Praxim will be able to sense it, but only within 30 feet, at which point it’s probably attacking them anyway. I don’t imagine Karivek’s bones counts as a prominent location for the find the path spell.
Does Rexil need a lesser restoration spell for the Wisdom damage or did that fix itself once the effect passed?
Thordak trudges along at a slower pace than normal, but nevertheless, he trudges on with determination.
Does that description work well enough for Find the Path?
PFS Legal Find the Path
Source PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 281
School divination; Level bard 6, cleric 6, druid 6, hunter 6, inquisitor 6, occultist 6, oracle 6, psychic 6, shaman 6, skald 6, spiritualist 6, warpriest 6, witch 6
Casting
Casting Time 3 rounds
Components V, S, F (a set of divination counters)
Effect
Range personal or touch
Target you or creature touched
Duration 10 min./level
Saving Throw none or Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no or yes (harmless)
Description
The recipient of this spell can find the shortest, most direct physical route to a prominent specified destination, such as a city, keep, lake, or dungeon. The locale can be outdoors or underground, as long as it is prominent. For example, a hunter's cabin is not prominent enough, but a logging camp is. Find the path works with respect to locations, not objects or creatures at a locale. The location must be on the same plane as the subject at the time of casting.
The spell enables the subject to sense the correct direction that will eventually lead it to its destination, indicating at appropriate times the exact path to follow or physical actions to take. For example, the spell enables the subject to sense what cavern corridor to take when a choice presents itself. The spell ends when the destination is reached or the duration expires, whichever comes first. Find the path can be used to remove the subject and its companions from the effect of a maze spell in a single round, specifying the destination as “outside the maze.” This divination is keyed to the recipient, not its companions, and its effect does not predict or allow for the actions of creatures (including guardians) who might take action to oppose the caster as he follows the path revealed by this spell.
Will use Control Winds to help in the bad weather.
PFS Legal Control Winds
Source PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 261
School transmutation [air]; Level druid 5, hunter 5, occultist 5, shaman 5
Casting
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Effect
Range 40 ft./level
Area 40 ft./level radius cylinder 40 ft. high
Duration 10 min./level
Saving Throw Fortitude negates; Spell Resistance no
Description
You alter wind force in the area surrounding you. You can make the wind blow in a certain direction or manner, increase its strength, or decrease its strength. The new wind direction and strength persist until the spell ends or until you choose to alter your handiwork, which requires concentration. You may create an “eye” of calm air up to 80 feet in diameter at the center of the area if you so desire, and you may choose to limit the area to any cylindrical area less than your full limit.
Wind Direction: You may choose one of four basic wind patterns to function over the spell's area.
A downdraft blows from the center outward in equal strength in all directions.
An updraft blows from the outer edges in toward the center in equal strength from all directions, veering upward before impinging on the eye in the center.
Rotation causes the winds to circle the center in clockwise or counterclockwise fashion.
A blast simply causes the winds to blow in one direction across the entire area from one side to the other.
Wind Strength: For every three caster levels, you can increase or decrease wind strength by one level. Each round on your turn, a creature in the wind must make a Fortitude save or suffer the effect of being in the windy area. See Environment for more details.
Strong winds (21+ mph) make sailing difficult.
A severe wind (31+ mph) causes minor ship and building damage.
A windstorm (51+ mph) drives most flying creatures from the skies, uproots small trees, knocks down light wooden structures, tears off roofs, and endangers ships.
Hurricane force winds (75+ mph) destroy wooden buildings, uproot large trees, and cause most ships to founder.
A tornado (175+ mph) destroys all nonfortified buildings and often uproots large trees.
Also, does anyone else need some protection against the cold? How much time is left on Tomaru's current casting of Communal Resist Energy?
It occurs to you that the Vekker's journal may be of significant assistance for such spells. Too bad it's out in the blizzard with Thordak.
In fact, some of the final entries describe one of their last mining efforts just about a mile from here. The mine is situated on a ledge 200' above the valley floor. A very narrow path along a cliff face leads to it.
The Vekkers, if nothing else, liked to live on the edge...
Just remembering something, Thordak pulls out Vekker's journal. Working to block the wind as best he can in an attempt to read it, he manages to locate the pages that describes the mine. "HEY! I GOT IT!" he yells over the wind as he puts the book back. "FOLLOW ME!" he waves for them to follow as he sets out.
A solid two feet of snow falls through the door into the room as Thordak sets out. You can barely hear his voice telling you to follow over the roar of the wind.
And then Tomaru's spell kicks in, lowering the winds in the region. It is much quieter...for a moment. Then a long drawn howl of rage echoes down the valley. It would seem you've ruined someone's party...
How well will Air Walk work in conjunction with Control Winds in these conditions? Assuming Everon and Lym have their movement covered, that leaves nearly 40 minutes for each of Praxim, Thordak, Rexil, and Tomaru.
PFS Legal Air Walk
Source PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 239
School transmutation [air]; Level alchemist 4, cleric 4, druid 4, hunter 4, investigator 4, occultist 4, oracle 4, warpriest 4
Casting
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, DF
Effect
Range touch
Target creature (Gargantuan or smaller) touched
Duration 10 min./level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
Description
The subject can tread on air as if walking on solid ground. Moving upward is similar to walking up a hill. The maximum upward or downward angle possible is 45 degrees, at a rate equal to half the air walker's normal speed.
A strong wind (21+ miles per hour) can push the subject along or hold it back. At the end of a creature's turn each round, the wind blows the air walker 5 feet for each 5 miles per hour of wind speed. The creature may be subject to additional penalties in exceptionally strong or turbulent winds, such as loss of control over movement or physical damage from being buffeted about.
Should the spell duration expire while the subject is still aloft, the magic fails slowly. The subject floats downward 60 feet per round for 1d6 rounds. If it reaches the ground in that amount of time, it lands safely. If not, it falls the rest of the distance, taking 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of fall. Since dispelling a spell effectively ends it, the subject also descends in this way if the air walk spell is dispelled, but not if it is negated by an antimagic field.
You can cast air walk on a specially trained mount so it can be ridden through the air. You can train a mount to move with the aid of air walk (counts as a trick; see Handle Animal skill) with 1 week of work and a DC 25 Handle Animal check.
Another option is that Lym can cast Communal Mount, but how well will the mounts function in the very cold conditions?
How well will Air Walk work in conjunction with Control Winds in these conditions? Assuming Everon and Lym have their movement covered, that leaves nearly 40 minutes for each of Praxim, Thordak, Rexil, and Tomaru.
** spoiler omitted **
Another option is that Lym can cast Communal Mount, but...
If Rexil will accept it, Tomaru will use Air Walk on the group.
That's fine. Rexil's gotten used to all the weirdness by now.
You set out into the wilds around the cabin. The thin air is frigid, and large snowflakes fall lazily in the much-reduced storm. The snow is deep and heavy, but Tomaru's spell makes it simple to navigate.
Following the directions as given in the Vekker's journal, you head north. While the path described by the journal is covered by the snow, the route it cuts through the mountains is fairly obvious.
It's steady climb from the cabin, leading you even higher into the Kodar peaks. Eventually you find a narrow five-foot path winds up a tall peak. The path opens up into a wide ledge almost 2000' feet above the valley floor. The ground is rough with debris and scrap from the mine operations. A thick layer of fog covers the ledge, making it difficult to determine where the ground stops and the long drop starts.
Farther back on the ledge, near the opening to the mine, you can just barely make out the tops of a dozen gravestones in the fog.
"There! Just up ahead."
”Oh yeah. This is definitely fine. I see no issues here at all.” He resumes his divine bond, making his bow +5 seeking undead bane. He also casts weapon of awe on it. Both effects last 15 minutes.
Everon drifts slightly higher into the air, almost unconsciously. "Yes, let's continue on through the clearly not undead infested graveyard."
"That is a lot of sarcasm for someone who invited themselves to this party." Lym says dryly. "No matter how accurate your statement may be."
"Are the stones marked? Can we determine which is the one that we want or are we now tasked with digging up the undead that we must then defeat?"
Thordak shakes his head and looks to them all as if they're being ridiculous. "Bah! Too much talkin'. I'm gonna go find 'im." He then makes his way directly to the graveyard and works to find Karivek's grave.
There are a dozen gravestones, each one marked with a dwarven name. Most notably, Silas Vekker's name is on a gravestone, but Karivek's is not. A body lies near the stones, only visible through the fog when Thordak gets near. The likeness to Silas is unmistakable, Karivek Vekker died here on this ledge.
The dwarf’s body lies near a long-dead fire pit in the eastern portion of the ledge, frozen solid and preserved by the cold mountain air. The corpse still wears its padded armor, but is itself in frightful shape. Not only is it broken and mangled, as if it had fallen from a great height, but the body’s legs end in charred, blackened stumps where the feet had been burnt off.
"Do you think we should bury him here next to his brother and in that way bring them together or do we bring him back to the shack?"
"The living should not suffer for the dead. We should press on until our mission is complete, then return once we have the time to do so. But I will bow to all your wishes on the situation."
”We knew coming here that these dwarves, if still alive, might be able to tell us the way to Xin-Shalast. Helping the dead find their way might help the living not get lost.”
"Let me at least take a brief glance around the area. I would not want to start hauling this body only to be assaulted by something and risk losing it." Everon ascends, getting a birds-eye view to check out if there were any threats in the area.
"Alright. Let me know what ya find, lad. I'll have him ready to go when you're done." While waiting for Everon to complete his sweep, Thordak picks up the dead dwarf and throws him over his shoulder. "Just say the word."
"Can you get back on your own?" Tomaru asks Everon. "I can only take five."
"Let's just all walk back, lad," he says to Tomaru. "It's no fuss. Really don't want ta leave anyone behind. I'd feel a bit guilty, even though he is an elf," he remarks, grinning wryly.
Praxim starts scanning for evil around the remains then further out into the graveyard.
Thordak bends over to pick up the frozen corpse. Suddenly a slight tremor of the ground warns him something is not quite right...
The ground next to Thordak and Karivek's corpse bursts outward in an eruption of stone and ice. An immense white worm, a single circular eye in the center of it's head, looms over the dwarf. Wisps of icy fog waft up from between its mandibles.
Looking up... and up... and up... and up, Thordak's mind registers only one thing... Placing the body of his dwarven brethren down, he grabs his longaxe and becomes SERIOUSLY pissed off as the dwarf's fury grows right along with his person. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS YA BIG FREAKIN' WORM BEAST!!!" he yells as the large dwarf swings his fiery weapon with all the fury he can muster.
Lym will make sure that she is at least 40' up.
What is this thing? What is it's vulnerabilities?
or +26 if Dungeoneering
[ooc had some trouble with the website lately.[/ooc]
The massive worm shudders as Thordak's axe tears a large chunk of flesh and chitin from its side. A fine rime of ice is already beginning to form on the wound from the beast's intense cold.
The frost worm thrusts its head forward, a large conical blast of lethal cold enveloping the party.
Praxim nimbly avoids most of the frost and returns fire.
”This was supposed to be undead!” he growls as he shoots.
Rexil also avoids most of the cold and lays into the worm with his great club, likely bouncing the club off its frozen hide.
What about Lym's roll to know something?
Tomaru's Control Winds can create an area of calm winds 80' around him.
Thordak manages to withstand most of the frozen breath weapon. "Blast that's cold."