While the Naga is entertained stopping Tewa, Adriana darts through and positions herself to deliver a merciful strike that fails to reach the target.
The half-elf whips again the naga, but the attack comes short of reaching any of her images.
Magdi gets out of the way of the trajectory thanks to Tonny's good advise and heals the wounds quickly.
Adriana flanks the large serpent, but her attacks come unfocused and does not manage to damage the naga.
Jonah starts shooting bolts repeatedly with great mastery. One of them lands on the naga. An image shatters.
Tewa does something heroic!
The naga turns back towards Adriana "I will give you a lesson thieves!"
She manages to put her jaws through the inquisitor's right shoulder and tear it, showing the white bone below.
Magdi's storm burst ends, leaving the naga a clearer view of the space.
She ably dodges the worst of the lightning, only momentarily looking worried. ”I have dodged worse! What kind of sailor would I be if I had not?”
She takes a moment to call upon her ancestral knowledge of battle to help guide her sword.
She sends a powerful overhead chop at the naga.
She continues how she started, following up with another mighty chop, this one horizontal.
With two furiously focused swings, Tewa destroys two of the naga images!
Magdi grimaces, aiming his crossbow at the naga before pausing. I can't risk hitting Adriana. He chants a spell, gesturing and carving forth the power of the winds and waves. With a whirl of rain, a longbow of force appears next to him. With a musical twang, it fires an arrow of translucent force at the serpentine monster. With that, he moves forwards, switching his crossbow out for his spear. I didn't want to get into melee for this... but no choice.[/ooc]
Jonah fires off another volley of bolts at the Naga, but his aim is a bit off. maybe something got adjusted too far for underwater fighting...
Tonny whip actually strikes true through the images, slashing the naga's skin and drawing first blood!
Magdi's force arrow flies through the library striking a book behind of the naga that scolds furiously at the destruction.
Jonah's bolts, balanced for the water medium, just fail all too short or too long.
Adriana does something heroic!
The naga looks at Tonny casting charm monster on him "Stay back out of this, go to the stairs with your whip and guard the place."
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Tonny finds himself already turned around with one foot extended towards the stairwell before he comes to his senses. That’s a terrible idea! Unless she thinks the clockwork servants are going to attack… But if they were, they would have already done so! He whips around, trying to swing his whip like a dramatic swashbuckler to remove another image before distracting the naga from Tewa’s next swing.
Adriana cries out as the Naga tears a chunk out of her shoulder, the pain white hot as her arm threatens to stop working. Gritting her teeth and willing herself to remain standing Adriana flocks her scimitar back blade side up and channeling righteous power through the blade, waiting for Tewa to pull its attention once again before striking.
ACTIONS
The pain from the bite already numbing from adrenaline and her righteous fury, Adriana continues to slash at the Naga.
ACTIONS
”Well struck, Adriana! Let us see if I can match you.” She winds up a mighty overhead blow, chopping down along the line from the nape of the naga’s neck diagonally down.
Jonah fires more arrows, but still is having trouble dialing it in.... at least one shot may have hit, but not very hard
Adriana shows true cunning outflanking the naga with a well made attack. It fails to hit the naga but precise enough to take out one image!
Jonah tries to drill the naga with multiple bolts, but only one is accurate enough to take an image.
Tonny has better judgement than following the naga's advice, but regretfully his whip makes it short when it comes to hitting the woman-faced snake.
Calling for the power of her goddess Adriana directs another cut at the naga, this one precise enough to be a real danger, shattering the last image.
This leaves the way free to Tewa, who matching Adriana's movements, cuts through the serpent skin making it blood "You will pay for this brute!"
Magdi does something heroic!
Visibly angered, the naga follows in with another lightning bolt that breaks through the room catching Tewa, Tonny and Jonah!
Tewa just barely too slow and screams as the full bolt of electricity pours through her. She takes a step back out of the naga’s reach and pate herself on the chest.
”I’ve been called far worse than brute. I expect I will hear worse from you before I’m through with you.”
Magdi's shimmering longbow unleashes another arrow of force. As it does so, he peeks around the corner and fires his own crossbow at the naga, before reloading it carefully.
Once more, the longbow fires its forceful arrow. As it does, the shaman grimaces, stepping out and firing his crossbow again. However, he has to take care not to hit his comrades, and the bolt goes wide.
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Tonny gasps for breath, then immediately starts gagging on the fluid in his mouth. Pale green paste flies though the air, mostly landing on the naga and rapidly hardening into sticky ropes as it is exposed to the air. The scholar wipes his mouth and takes an actual deep breath, shakily getting back onto his feet.
Jonah tries to jump out of the way of the lightning
he avoids some of the damage but is still singed.
"would you stop that! those hurt!
He takes a step to the side trying not to be in line with so many people this time, then fires off another volley
Magdi's force missile strikes on the naga's chest, leaving a blunt mark.
After taking the blunt of the bolt, Tewa steps back and heals herself.
Magdi's follow up attacks though do not have the same precision and miss the serpent-like creature.
Tonny is caught as well by the electrical bolt and against all odds he clings to life with heroic effort, and almost by luck, spits the adhesive in his mouth.
The naga gets stuck to the stony ground of the library "You mosquito swarm are just so bothering!"
Getting partially away from the bolt trajectory, Jonah puts more bolts in the air, one of them stabbing deep in the skin of the monster, another blocked by the force shield. Stuck to the ground the naga cannot avoid a third one as her dexterity is diminished "Agh"
Adriana does something heroic!
The naga starts to do magical movements and electricity crackles through her body, but stuck to the ground, she fails on some movement and the spell is ruined.
With their combined onslaught shattering the last of the images protecting the Naga, Adriana growls as another bolt of lightning splits the air and harms her companions.
"Enough! Yield or die!" She shouts as she drives her scimitar into the Naga's flesh.
Continuing to press attack, buffs the same as previous round.
and if possible, using the free 5' movement to try and keep the Naga pinned on three sides (I don't know if ranged attacks get flanking bonuses or if there's a bonus for attacking from behind, but either way doing my best to keep the Naga trapped.)
Adriana carefully rolls on her feet to dodge Tonny's adhesive spit, using the momentum to continue with her strikes against the spellcasting Naga.
Same as before, just gonna keep on attacking while my buffs last.
Oof, nat 1. Rolling Damage just in case.
Outflanking the creature with expertise, Adriana delivers a baneful strike that cuts through flesh and bone.
She follows up with a second attack, but despite the entanglement, the naga's shield magic blocks the attack with a loud sound.
Tonny strikes as well with his whip, confusing and doing some more harm to the naga, and what is best, pointing the others where to cause more damage to their foe.
should have quit when we gave you the chance, lizard jonah says as he aims another salvo from his repeater
”Your lightning was no match for The Lightning in the East, Tewa She.” Tewa twirls her greatsword in one hand, gripping it in both as it swings back upward, then swings it down vertically along the length of the naga.
Magdi pulls his wand from his hip, reaching over to touch Tonny. "Stay still a moment. This might help." The shimmering longbow fires its last arrow before fading.
Magdi manages to heal a bit the badly injured half-elf.
Despite his many wounds, Jonah keeps shooting his bolts valiantly, one of them lodging deep into the naga's skin as being stuck she is unable to dodge it.
With a final commanding swing of her greatsword, crowns herself as the Lightning of the East, as she decapitates the serpent sorceress with a clean strike.
The head rolls through the ground and the body falls inert.
The books on the desk are bestiaries describing the regional fauna, including several accounts of freak storms or aberrant currents driving predators into savage frenzies. It is almost as if the naga has been perusing them in search of a reason for the rash of feeding frenzies in the region. Looking through these books help you draw a connection between the unusual weather patterns and the increased monster activity taking place around Hyrantam.
Hidden in a secret drawer in the desk is a wandlike stylus that radiates faint abjuration magic.
A simple use of detect magic can help you find a few magical scrolls in this libray. The shelves contain a scroll of erase and a scroll of make whole , both of which are labeled with arcane marks.
The coat of arms hanging above the checkout desk is actually a special magical buckler.
starsling buckler loaded with five sling bullets. A drawer in the desk contains 20 more sling bullets.
The naga was not wearing any magical item.
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Tonny pants for a few seconds before coiling his whip back up and hanging it on his hip. “Well, um, pity she’s, uh, dead. She might’ve been able to tell us something about the place. Or maybe she would have just kept trying to electrocute us.”
The scholar squints at the books. “Oceans currents, storms, feeding patterns… Hmm.”
Sidestepping as Tewa's heavy swing lops the Naga's head clean off Adriana huffs from exertion as she lets the magic fade from her sword and just takes a moment, staring at the Naga's head and pondering Tonny's words for a moment before shaking off doubts before they could take root. Yes, perhaps they could have negotiated, but it was too late for speculation.
Carefully stepping over the Naga's corpse Adrianna approaches Tewa and gently places a hand on her shoulder.
"Seems we make a good pair." She says with a small smile as she quickly once-overs Tewa for obvious injury. "Will you be alright? I want to make sure our friends are okay, that thing made a lot of lightning."
Magdi taps Tonny with the healing wand a few more times. "You don't look that sturdy, friend. May I suggest not getting blasted with lightning in the future?" He turns to Jonah, then, doing the same.
"I can get rid of all your wounds, but this isn't without its limits." He waves the wand. The shaman furrows his brow, concerned. "Should I do it? I doubt it'll take more than one or two more uses on either of you, but..."
He looks at the discoveries that the others have found. "I'm afraid I can't make heads or tails of these."
Tewa holds out her arms to her sides and raises her chin, giving silent thanks to Mother Jaguar for her favor and ferocity. She plants her greatsword in the ground with a stab and pulls out her wand. "I got one of these myself, Magdi. Fresh and unused."
She tends to Adriana's wounds first. "Oh I'll be fine in a few moments. And I agree, we are a good team. You are especially good at taking advantage of a distracted enemy. I might have to pick up a few pointers from you on that count."
Only once Adriana's wounds are all closed up does she turn to her own care.
Jonah pants with exertion from the fight and the singes on his skin
well that was quite a thing... dangerous creature. thank you Magdi I feel much better now
Jonah stays out of the others' way when they search the books, and keeps an eye out for other danger
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“I don’t see any exits to another floor,” Tonny comments slowly, walking around the library and looking at - but not touching! - the many books and scrolls piled on the walls. “Unless, of course, there’s a secret passage behind one of these shelves that can only be revealed by pulling one particular book. Or a decoration maybe - ooo, maybe a rotating fireplace? That’s a classic trope in many Ustalavic stories. You know, our second-year class president swore up and down that there was a restricted section in the library, but if she found it she never told anyone before she left to study elsewhere. Oh well.”
You do spend a few hours studying the books here looking for hints of Hyrantham past that might come to help now.
Following Tonny's expert lead, your advances are fast and fruitful.
Throughout the Age of Enthronement, the kingdom of Lirgen blossomed under the rule of the Saoc Brethren, a collective of philosophers who sought guidance from the stars. The Saoc Brethren used their knowledge of astronomical patterns and astronomy to guide their civilization to prosperity, ushering in a golden age that rivaled many of the Inner Sea region’s historic empires. The kingdom’s meteoric rise did not last, though, for when the Eye of Abendego formed in the Abendego Gulf, the overwhelming storm blotted out the stars above with its clouds and flooded the coastline below with its waves. That the Saoc Brethren had not predicted the hurricane’s devastation drove most of their kin to take part in a massive ritual suicide while their nation drowned.
When the storm’s fury drew the Storm Kindlers—devotees of Gozreh who viewed the Eye of Abendego as a manifestation of their deity’s power—to the region, some of their number became intrigued by fragments left behind by the Saoc Brethren. This blasphemous sect grew obsessed with the notion that by adapting the Brethren’s divinatory methods to the Eye of Abendego, they could not only read the future, but also alter the future by controlling the storm itself. The other Storm Kindlers were aghast at this sacrilegious belief when they learned of it, and they attempted to cut the heretics off from access to the source of their obsession by exiling them, forcing them to flee south or face execution. The heretics did so, eventually resettling in the Lower Korir River Delta in what would soon become southwestern Sargava, and in time both groups—the Storm Kindlers and the heretics among them—faded from memory.
Now, the Stormreaders is a menace too new for you to find information about them in here. But the fact they are requesting ancient artifacts, and their stay at the old observatory of Seer's Summit, makes you think they might be trying to uncover the ancient rituals of the Saoc Brethren to make predictions and even alter the future at their favor.
Tonny also points you out towards the right books that describe thunderbirds. Surprisingly these gargantuan magical beasts are not particularly evil, so there must be some reason for it to be working with the Stormreaders. You find out this bird alone could easily destroy what remains of the Lirgeni enclave. They can produce bolts of thunder and lightning , are permanently surrounded by severe winds that can menace any ship on sinking, and can see through any atmospheric effect like clouds. Thunderbirds bring the storm on their wings. In times of drought, they are welcomed with joy and celebration. In other times, they are placated with gifts in hopes that they might leave quickly before flooding begins. When angered, thunderbirds can call down hurricanes and lay waste to entire villages, so in regions where these birds dwell, many villages maintain extensive rituals designed to appease and honor the local thunderbirds. Once the chicks have hatched, their parents carry the offspring to nests at the top of mountains, where the young are struck by their first bolts of lightning and learn the mysteries of the storm.
Adriana and Magdi find in a secret drawer in the desk a wandlike stylus that radiates faint abjuration magic. It seems related to the books borrowing but Magdi cannot tell the exact details.
This minor magical item can deactivate the arcane marks on any of the books in the library for 1 hour with a single touch. The stylus originally allowed borrowers to remove books from the library. When borrowers finished with a book, a librarian would deactivate the rune once again before the book reentered the library for safe refiling. The stylus is more of a curiosity today than anything else. It is worth 150 gp and can serve as Stormreader tribute.
There are many more details you can study in this library if you wish so, but unless you have something specific to check, there is nothing more to your current goals to uncover.
There are two sets of doors, to the north and to the west, but from what you have seen from outside, these are merely the original entrances and bring outside. Probably magic is holding stuck the doors anyway as some kind of force has sealed the library and prevented the sea from ruining its contents.
The stairs stop here, there are no more floors going down.
Thus, you can more deeply explore the two floors upstairs, you can come back to the Lirgini Enclave with what you have found so far, or you can try to explore some other location in the region like the Aphelion Manor.
Magdi grunts. "Ustalav? Never learned too much about Avistan. Good to learn more, even if it's a little odd." He looks around. "Where are we headed to next, friends? Unless you wish to spend more time studying, Tonny, I think we ought to make haste elsewhere."
"Ustalav is a strange place, from what I've been told about it." Adriana says absent-mindedly as she gleans all she can learn about Thunderbirds, concern and suspicion rising within her as she learns more and more about the powerful creature and starts to assume that there's still more than they fully know.
She just hoped a fight could be avoided.
"We've managed a decent find here, and we might be able to come back for more information - maybe more items, if we need to buy more time."
Do you think that naga was part of this cult, or was she here looking for other information? seems like we found wht we were looking for, we can always come back and do some more reading when we know better what questions to ask, right?
Jonah feels out of his element while the more learned members are doing heavy research and is ready to move on whenever they are.
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"Oh, I suppose..." Tonny looks back longingly at the books, then at his bag, then back at the books. "I'll, uh, just borrow a few of these..." Carefully he slides a book on the region's history with the Storm Kindlers into his bag, then a second about native fauna that very likely moved elsewhere when the region flooded. "Magdi, you said you found something? I can take a look at those tomorro-wait! Give me a minute - where did I put the owl feathers and lemon mint, they've got to be in here somewhere... Oh dear." With a shamed blush creeping up his neck, the scholar removes the second book, then the first, then a notepad with bent pages sticking out haphazardly, then finally a small envelope of folded wax paper that has clearly been crushed and bent multiple times. "I'm, uh, pretty sure it's still good?"
"Oh, what a lovely piece of work! This quill was used for checking books in and out of the library - see, it removes the marks like that... or maybe it's supposed to be like this... well, uh, I'm pretty sure that's what it was for anyway. I guess it could be offered as tribute to the Stormreaders?" Tonny's scrunched face leaves little doubt how much he loathes the idea of parting with the trinket.
"Now this is fascinating! It's a buckler, but if you flick this middle part like this... Ow, that's bright! But look! The celestial bodies on it have started to dance! And if you flicked it just right, you could fling one of these stars - or planets or comets - at something like a sling! I think I'd call it a starsling buckler."
Magdi purses his lips, dark brows furrowed. "The quill seems harmless enough to give to the Stormreaders. I'm not sure how much they'd value it, though. The buckler would probably not impact their power too much, but it might be useful for one of us to use, if anyone wants to."
Once you are done with your research, you make your way out of the library, using the quill to "borrow" any item you might be interested on so to not trigger the protective columns at each entrance of the building.
Taking your ship, you sail once more through the storm and back to the Lirgeni Enclave where you dock your vessel in front of the Harbormaster's tower.
Vancen is happy to see you back and is swift to accommodate you with warm drinks and food. The Harbormaster listens about your discoveries and you prepare yourselves to pass another night in Hyrantham.
As the next day dawns, the storms abate and the sun comes out, yet Vancen and the people of the Lirgeni enclave seem hesitant to rejoice. When you ask why are they not happy about it, the Harbormaster responds "The lull in the storm presages an afternoon visit from the Stormreaders."
The stormreaders coming here eh? do you want us here or should we make ourselves scarce for now?
Jonah isn't feeling ready to confront the cult, but seeing them in person could be valuable... he looks to see what the others will do.
"No please, stay and try to find out as much as possible." Vancen looks at Jonah then outside worriedly "Follow my lead and not anger or attack the visitor, I fear of retaliation against my people."
Then he points to the items you have recovered and showed him "I suggests you keep the items you’ve settled on for tribute handy."
Looking outside nervously as the first rays of sun bath the piers he asks you "Do you wish to try a last foray into Hyrantham ancient ruins or do you prefer to wait here and face her with the tribute you have already gathered?"
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The Previous Night
The return from the library is quiet and uneventful, and while Adriana wasn't able to make much sense of all the information they'd acquired, she could at least make the attempt to learn more about sailing on their return to safety; Tonny would likely have more information the next day.
Once back in Hyrantham and with their haul ready to be used for tribute, Adriana takes a moment to sneak away at night to once again find the furtherest point that reaches the sea, waiting several minutes for any possible sign from Eryssala before returning, idly wondering is she could perhaps get Tewa to dance with her for a little bit.
The Following Day
Seeing the sun for the first time in a while energizes Adriana in ways she hadn't expected, her mood boosted for most of the morning until the sombreness of the town is explained, helping gather the various items of tribute and thinking about the clearer sky. "We learned about Thunderbirds yesterday, if the sky is clear...I wonder..." She looks to the others. "We'll learn what we can, I think we already have some theories forming."
Jonah looks around at the others. what are we giving as tribute?
Tewa absolutely takes Adriana on the dancing offer. ”You know, I used to be quite the catch on the ballroom.” She gives one of her dashing cockeyed smiles.
After she trips over herself and misses the beat a few times, she grimaces and bats her hair out her face. ”Guess the emphasis is on ‘used to.’”
”I think I’ve got another ancient ruin in me. Even if we don’t get much in tribute, we could pick up something that will prepare us for future battles. Or make a pretty penny.”
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“What are we giving as tribute?”
“Maybe the buckler?” Tonny offers hesitantly. “I, uh, can’t remember what else we might have found that would be interesting enough, and besides, it’s quite valuable! Or, at least, I think it’s valuable…”
When Tonny talks about not remembering any other suitable tribute, he’s working very hard to not mention the stylus the group also found in the library. He also seems somewhat embarrassed to have lost track of anything else suitable the group might have found.
"There's also the astronomy equipment we found in the skum lair." Magdi suggests, scratching his chin. Hm. Need to shave soon. "Not a whole lot of use to them insofar as combat capabilities go."
Adriana waits near the sea in case she can have any news from Eryssala. Despite nothing comes, she goes back to Vancem tower hopeful something will come up at some point.
That night the Harbormaster's rooms become an improvised ballroom. Even some of the villagers venture there to listen about your tales and some bring music with them. You are surprised they do not accept any coin, instead they trade goods in exchange for anything they would need.
Your objects of tribute are received with great happiness as this means no villager will be abducted this month.
Given the only one pronouncing herself about trying a quick foray before the Stormreaders can show themselves at town is the ship captain, and given the own willingness of this aging narrator, the group takes the ship once more, profiting the calm weather to sail with ease to the last location suggested by Vancem: the Aphelion Manor .
The flooding submerged the lower floor of this manor, leaving the upper floor just barely above the level of high tide. Vancen explained it before stood amid beautifully sculpted gardens in Watcher’s Way, home to the Guzas—a pair of married oracles of high standing within the Saoc Brethren.
The manor itself is a stone building, and its stone doors have weathered the decades well above sea level on the upper floor.
Waves crash against this stone balcony, leaving the marble floor slick with sea spray. A broken telescope leans against the railing, its cracked lens staring blindly off into the cloudy sky. A wall of shattered floor-to-ceiling windows separates this deck from the room to the south.
This balcony overlooks the Frogmarch River to the north. The railings here provide a convenient mooring for your vessel, but on the sides you see the manor walls are broken and you can also enter there if you walk through the stonebed (which is covered by 1 feet of water at the current tide level).
Jonah doesn't want to be first in to the old Manor, but he covers whoever does go in first from the balcony. he listens and watches for anything moving as the group disembarks their little boat
unfortunately he is still not fully used to adventuring at sea, and the sound of moving water obscures anything else he might be able to hear...
Magdi looks about the area, carefully drawing his own crossbow. "I do not have any spells that will allow me to perceive this area better. We must be cautious."
Jonah disembarks into the balcony and points to the door there without finding any danger while Magdi puts a new ward on Adrianna, just in case. The group opens the door in the balcony.
The southern half of the room has been drenched by floodwaters that poured through the broken windows, causing the legs of the mahogany desk and chair here to rot. Three large bookcases contain several volumes with varying degrees of water damage. One of the bookcases has already spilled its contents onto the floor, where heaps of books lie ruined from years of water exposure.
As you make it into the study you notice a crescendo of insane babbling.
You do understand this is a haunt, a spiritual manifestation caused by some previous grudge. You can try to use positive energy (channel or cure spells) to expel the spirits before they fully manifest in one round.
A single telescope lens in the display cabinet remains fully functional despite the passage of time. The lens is worth 500 gp and can be used as an item of tribute. Unfortunately, all of the books once kept here are ruined beyond repair.
There are two other doors here, leaving south or east.