Magdi follows his fellows carefully into the study area. "Another bit of tribute that might be given safely to the Stormreaders." He muses aloud, pointing at the telescope. "I hope, at any rate. There may be some sort of astrological magic that they're practicing."
As Magdi picks up the worthy telescope, mad ramblings about the void between the stars worm their way into your brains, which overtakes some of you confusing your minds.
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 from your insane companions.
As Magdi picks up the telescope, there's...something that wriggles in Adrianna's mind, and it makes her skin crawl from the sensation.
"Magdi, careful! It might be trapped! Or..." Trap didn't quite seem right to explain what she's feeling, but what else could it be?
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Jonah hears the voices "we're not alone in here! he warns the others, but has no idea what the voices might be as he doens't see a foe.
a familiar loss of self falls over Jonah and he starts looking around wildly.
"you won't trick me, star-beast! I see you!
and he shoots Magdi. again.
Magdi grunts. "A haunt! Hit it with positive energy, if you can!" That's all he has time for before Jonah shoots him. Again. He bites back a curse, staggering. "Dammit!"
He pulls out his wand, ready to use it to expel the haunt from his comrades.
Tewa feels the magic beginning to weasel into her mind, but she is able to keep herself lucid enough long enough to pull out her scroll of calm emotions and read it.
As madness falls among the party, Tewa takes a last moment of clarity to pull good calming magics. As she finishes reading her scroll, a soothing calmness overcomes the confusion clearing everyone's mind, but not before Jonah takes Magdi for an enemy, again, and shots him in the back, again!
The magics gives you some time to deal with the haunt or leave the room.
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Tonny doesn’t even seem to notice the whispering in his mind at first, his own internal monologue apparently drowning it out. “Fascinating, it’s in workable condition, well, I’m guessing it’s still workable, but difficult to tell during daylight, can’t see the darkness between the stars - wait, what?”
“Oh, a haunt! Yes, positive energy - energy, not thoughts, the folks in the north-northwest dormitory found that out the hard way when a poltergeist took up residence in their lavatory…”
Tonny observes the haunt manifestation and afterwards he can explain the rest of the group he thinks there must be some presence remaining from the souls dead in this tower during the flood that need to be destroyed for the haunt vanishing.
As for the calm emotions, you will see, while the spell lasts and Tewa holds concentration on it, the madness does not attack back, but you have little time to either exit the room or attack it with positive energy.
Adriana steps close to the telescope and grits her teeth as the haunts' madness continues to claw at her senses, grabbing her symbol of Sarenrae and not entirely sure of what to do, raises her hand and attempts to 'comfort' the haunt.
"Be at rest now..."
The Dawnflower answers Adriana's call and a blue divine brightness surrounds her as she focuses in the surrounding spirits. The positive energy channels in and the spirits howl as the power affects them.
The spirits seem weakened but still trying to worm into your minds, which are still protected by Tewa.
Magdi activates his wand, tapping the area as Adriana had done. "Get out of here, people! They're still attacking, no? Let me try to deal with this."
Magdi waves his wand and a blue pulse of light brings back the spirits that fade away and disappear. The positive energy gathered by the party has managed to disperse the haunt for now, and Tewa's magic has taken away the madness inflicted in Jonah, but if the manor is not fully pacified the haunt can come back in a day or so.
With the haunt dealt with, the party is free to chose where and how to follow.
Jonah's confusion doesn't last long before it is magically cured. He looks around to figure out what happened and his cheeks turn bright red when he sees a bolt sticking out of Magdi.
oh hell... he mutters.
Tewa still finishes out the full length of the scroll, just to be safe. When she finishes concentrating, she pauses a moment to make sure the madness has not struck again, then breathes a sigh of relief.
"Well that could have been a lot worse. Glad I've been holding onto that scroll, and even more glad you two had some healing magic to suppress that thing."
She moves to the door next to Adriana . "How about this one?"
"Maybe next time, I should stand further away." The shaman says wryly, before patting Jonah on the shoulder. "It's not your fault, though. Everyone got a little strange."
He looks to Tewa, nodding. "We'd best be out before it remanifests. Though that probably shouldn't be for hours, if not a day."
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"Uh, I don't think standing further away would help?" Tonny offers hesitantly. "I mean, it's a crossbow, and those things have a pretty good range on them... Oh." The scholar's face flushes red as he thinks through Magdi's comment, and he tries to discretely step further away from Jonah himself. "Oh, yes, that door looks lovely, is that fortieth-century decoration I see there, hmm, yes, quite..."
Letting out a sign of relief as their work cleanses the haunt and the madness scrabbling at her mind subsides, Adriana gives the telescope a lingering glance and thinks it safe, attention pulled away by Tewa and she nods once.
"This one seems good." She says, and then with a small smirk asks Tewa "You first or me?"
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Adriana slowly and carefully opens the fortieth-century decorated door, which opens half into the high tide waters.
The waterlogged ruins of several furnishings lie heaped in a hole that yawns in this room’s eastern wall. The remnants of a four-poster bed stand next to the western door, flanked by two soaked but intact mahogany nightstands. Cracked windows look out over the flooded city.
Years of violent storms and water damage have caused most of the manor’s east wing to collapse into the surf, leaving only half of the master bedroom intact.
You notice the nightstand has been treated to resist water damage and remains intact; thinking it might still contain something from the past, you explore it and your fine perception notes some differing depth which leads you to a hidden panel.
Inside, there is a ruby butterfly figurine of wondrous power that irradiates with magic when using detect magic.
This magical figurine can be used as an item of tribute.
Magdi nods. "Most structures aren't wholly stable these days... but being extra careful won't hurt us here."
Jonah keeps a eye out for danger, but doesn't see anything new yet
Adriana looks about the soggy bedroom but is more focused on where her feet go, not looking to plunge through a rotted floor.
Unless Tewa notices something out of place, the party eventually takes the natural next step, the door to the south.
A balcony lined with ruined paintings and massive windows overlooks the mansion’s foyer, which is now filled with water below. Rotten sofas and armchairs slump along the southern wall, their once rich red upholstery faded from years of neglect. A marble staircase descends into the dark, churning water. Bits and pieces of scaly flesh lie strewn here and there on the balcony.
The bits of scaly flesh seem parts of locathahs. They seem old enough to have a few days already. Only a large predator could have done this work.
You know locathah are friendly and inquisitive aquatic denizens that have no inherent distrust of surfacers. In fact, most locathahs enjoy conversing with surface races and often hail passing ships to exchange goods or simply pass along news. Crews who sail in locathah territory know the piscine people as traders of both goods and information, trustworthy so long as they are dealt with fairly.
The surface of the water below, is just 5 feet from the balcony's floor.
Below the water you spot what seems some kind of aquatic dinosaur.
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“Oh… Oh dear.” Tonny kneels down to investigate the scraps of skin more closely, his face threatening to turn green from the sight. “That’s probably from a locathah - friendly folks that generally don’t attack or harass visitors. Professor Ksivik spent an entire lecture talking about being stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Cheliax and only making it back to civilization thanks to a passing locathah school that helped build a raft out of seaweed and coconut husks and push it to the mainland.”
The scholar suddenly lurches backwards from the water, slipping on the slick stone and landing on his backside. “Dinosaur! In the water! So not really a dinosaur, but something that looks similar from a distance if you squint and the lighting is poor and you’re less concerned with those details right then!”
Magdi scratches his cheek before kneeling to examine the skin. "That makes ill hearing." He says softly. "Hopefully, it's from a natural predator, and not from the skum or their ilk."
"Yes. Hopefully that's not somehow affiliated with our Stormreader foes." Magdi draws his crossbow. "And equally, I hope it isn't still hungry. Ylimancha protect us and it."
Tewa also does not notice anything significant in the previous room.
She quietly pulls out her sword while the others figure out what they are seeing.
Tonny jumps back as he spots the dinosaur. The creature there down seems to be an elasmosaurus, a huge aquatic beast with a tremendous long neck. Although physically strong, they do not have a strong will.
The creature seems occupied on the bottom of the waters and does not pay much attention to the door opening.
Jonah slowly looks into the water
"hoo boy that's a big one! never seen one in person. looks like an Elasmosaurus. dangerous when provoked, but it looks busy right now"
Adriana freezes slightly at the sight of the large dinosaur under the water, the memory of being eaten still very fresh and she didn't want to experience it again.
Feet still frozen, Adriana forces her eyes off the giant shadow and to the others. "Would we be able to speak with any locathah if we met them? More allies would be a boon. And...what do we do about...that?"
Jonah and Adriana observe the creature at the distance as well.
Impressed by the size of the dinosaur, the group comes to a halt.
Does the group try to venture into the room's balcony or even below? Do you try to bypass the creature with subterfuge or magic? Face it in heroic battle? Or does the group decide the treasures are not worth the risk and head back to the ship?
"Do you think trying to bypass it would provoke it, Jonah?" Magdi asks dryly.
It will not likely come out fo the water where we could fight it. and it will have the advantage in the water. my crossbow cannot shoot it effectively from above the water into the water. we either need to go past it or jump in and fight it quickly. we've fought worse, I'll bet we could take it!
Tewa taps the hilt of her blade while the others discuss options. ”We don’t decide something soon, I’m just gonna jump in and fight it down there.”
Given the will of the party to avoid the danger if possible, Jonah slowly advances himself trying to keep the elasmosaurus from attacking. Placing his hand up, the hunter approaches the water and makes soothing sounds.
The advance does not go terribly bad, as the experienced hunter approaches calling the attention of the dinosaur. The elasmosaurus dives up to the surface of the water and observes the man with attention, but then something goes wrong, perhaps she sees the group behind the hunter, or the drawn weapons, or just a roar on the stomach remembers she the last time she had an eat was some days ago already. The thing is the elasmosaurus smirks aggressively and attacks!
Of course the Hyrantham explorers are well readied for the aggression and are faster to react than the huge and slowly moving dinosaur!
The dinosaur upper part emerges out of the water so you can attack it from the edge of the railing, but the dinosaur has improved cover from the water.
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“Steady now… stead- Oops, I think it’s angry!” Tonny fumbles for a bottle hanging from his hips and downs its pale-yellow contents with one long gulp. “At least… judging by the fact… that it’s bearing its teeth… at us… Omph! That’s always a weird feeling.” He rolls his shoulders and shakes his rapidly-elongating arms. “Anyway! Watch its neck - it’s a long appendage, so it’ll take a bit of effort for it to change where its head is going.”
Tewa licks her lips as battle is joined. She pauses to gather her Goddess’s favor before moving to join the fray.
As Tonny drinks his extract his arms elongate becoming freakingly long, like mirroring the elasmosaurus long neck! Also his advice results in better tactics for the team.
Meanwhile Tewa calls for the gods favor while she ducks bellow the huge neck getting a better position before the dinosaur has a chance to snap at her.
Magdi growls and steps out into the small balcony, before chanting quickly and unleashing a spell on the dinosaur.
Not wanting to jump into the water or knock her companions over, Adriana moves into the room and calls forth a spectral scimitar to appear and start slashing at the unnerving dinosaur.
Magdi knowledge of the strings of luck touch the invisible ones that control the dinosaur's mind filling it with an abrasive doom.
Dreading the water, Adriana conjures a scimitar made of force that cuts through the transparent liquid and opening a long gash through the dinosaur's belly.
Meanwhile Jonah looks for protection, and moves back where he can shot from cover, trying to avoid the dangerous neck of the dinosaur.
And full of dread, the elasmosaurus fails to connect and Jonah goes into the previous room.
Nevertheless, the hunter manages to put a bolt through the dinosaur's neck with great precision.
The elasmosaurus tries to bite Tewa next.
But the woman steps away and deflects the jaws coming at her with a mighty blow of her blade.
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Jonah gets out of the way of the big dino and readies a full volley from his repeating crossbow.
one bolt goes realy wide, but the other shots are much more accurate
Jonah's bolts cross the water without impediment, lodging deeply into the elasmosaurus body, except for one of the bolts that hits an old mirror at the end of the room, shattering it into pieces.
The dinosaur protests with a bellow.
Magdi gestures, calling upon the spirits of the storm that constantly hums overhead in these Sodden Lands. With a wave of his hand, he summons a storm cloud around the dinosaur's head, obscuring its vision.
With that, he moves further away from his comrades, trusting them to use the recently freed space.
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Tonny reaches past Adriana's ear and tries to crack his whip. The movement starts in his shoulder, rippling down his noodley arm, through his wrist, and finally into the weapon itself. The scholar giggles nervously at the sensation, then does it again. "Heehee. Tewa, Adriana, quick, while it's distracted!"
Magdi moves his hands and the vapors in the air he summons surround the Elasmosaurus concealing its eyes!
Tonny elongates his arm over Adriana's head, whipping the dinosaur over the neck, confusing it enough to give Tewa and Adriana an advantage on their attacks!
With her summoned weapon of divine force dancing and slashing at the submerged part of the dinosaur, Adriana moves a little closer to Tewa and unsheathes her scimitar, taking swipes at the Elasmosaur whenever it gets close enough for her to strike.
Tewa swings away at the creature, still trying to find the right rhythm
Adriana steps forward slashing in the air while the force weapon slashes in the water without any of the two being able to pierce the strong skin of the dinosaur.
Tewa holds up Kuye Lam and when Tonny's whip lashes out, she profits the opportunity to cut deep into the elasmosaurus neck!
The elasmosaurus responds angrily trying to eat Adriana, but Magdi's wards kick in deflecting the snap!