HP 50/62
AC 21 (22, plus physical resistance 1, when inspired)
Fort +13, Ref +13, Will +12 (+1 to all when inspired)
Perception +12, Acrobatics +13, Athletics +14, Intimidation +10,
Effects: Hunted prey (yellow demon), inspired (defense, courage)
Not waiting for his halfling to stop him, Thkrull thunders toward the demon, pinning it in the corner.
HP 97/97
AC 24 (25, plus physical resistance 1, when inspired)
Fort +14, Ref +17, Will +13 (+1 to all with inspire defense)
Focus Points: 1/1; Hero points: 2; Halfling Luck []
Battle Medicine: Rova [], Thkrull [], Kennari [], Niksi [], Prism [], Unset []; Reflection of Life []
Effects: Hunted prey (yellow demon), inspired (courage, defense)
Realizing what the demons are trying to do, Rova lets Thkrull have his head, then launches an arrow toward the yellow demon before moving to a hopefully safer area.
Kennari concentrates on his defensive spell, extending its range so it covers Nikski and Rova. He then, annoyed that his fire didn't work, sends a jolt of lightning at each of the demons.
With the dinosaur well away from them Prism sets her sights on the foul demon as she rolls in between the dinosaur's trampling legs and out of dodge of the fiery breath. "You have to be faster than that!"
HP 71/71; Drained 2 (14)
AC 25 (+1 Shield Spell | +1 Inspire Defense and 2/- physical)
Spells: 1st 0/1; 2nd 0/1
Hero Points 2/3
Vibrant Display 1/10 minutes
Reflection of Life 1/Day 1/1
Unset avoids the worst of the attacks, then pummels the demon!
Thkrull steps on the other demon! Rova hits it with an arrow!
Kennari returns fire with electricity!
Yellow takes all the damage!
Prism crits the other demon twice, after totally avoiding the trample and breath weapon!
The demon is down, but it sprays boiling blood at Prism with each piercing strike!
, DC 19 basic Reflex
, DC 19 basic Reflex
Initiative!
Prism,
Unset, -48
Dinosaur, -96 hp
Yellow Demon, -57 hp
Niksi, Reflex save
Rova, -22 hp, (Thkrull -13 hp)
Kennari, -12 hp,
Niksi once again dances around the flames, leaving herself completely unharmed. She moves to the hallway to place herself in a more central position to assist her allies, drawing her heal wand as she does so. She keeps up her Inspire Defense performance all the while.
Niksi avoids the breath entirely!
The dinosaur rushes in a attacks first Unset, then Niksi.
The yellow demon moves up and attacks Kennari!
slashing plus plus
bludgeoning plus plus
The demon misses!
Initiative!
Prism, 2 Reflex saves
Unset, -61
Dinosaur, -96 hp
Yellow Demon, -57 hp
Niksi, -10
Rova, -22 hp, (Thkrull -13 hp)
Kennari, -12 hp,
"Ack!" Kennari ducks the demons attacks as he concentrates on his defensive aura . He then casts another spell to defend himself , causing a large gem to float around himself erratically.
"Uh, Thrkrull, a little help here?"
Prism steps back out of the range of the spraying blood as it sizzles and pops across the ground. "That'shot!" SHe tumbles and rushes the remaining demon. "Standback, theypop!"
HP 71/71; Drained 2 (14)
AC 25 (+1 Shield Spell | +1 Inspire Defense and 2/- physical)
Spells: 1st 0/1; 2nd 0/1
Hero Points 2/3
Vibrant Display 1/10 minutes
Reflection of Life 1/Day 1/1
Rova takes two quick shots over Prism's shoulder, then shouts "Thkrull, stomp it!"
Thkrull trumpets his glory, then moves up and stomps the annoying demon!
Kennari casts protective spells.
Prism's crit takes out the yellow demon!
Rova shoots at the dinosaur instead.
Initiative!
Prism, 2 Reflex saves
Unset, -61
Dinosaur, -109 hp
Niksi, -10
Rova, -22 hp, (Thkrull -13 hp)
Kennari, -12 hp,
Though battered by the beast, Unset attempts to beat it back by bashing it from behind!
Unable to find a path past its spiky tail, Unset decides simply to smack it twice.
Niksi goes back to her double performance, not wanting to risk a spell with the creature right in her face.
Unset struggles to fight the dinosaur, while Niksi keeps the inspiration going!
The dinosaur runs around, trampling everyone it can reach!
, DC 26 basic Reflex
Initiative!
Prism
Unset, -61, Reflex save, AoO
Dinosaur, -109 hp
Niksi, -10, Reflex save
Rova, -22 hp, Reflex save(Thkrull -13 hp)
Kennari, -12 hp,
Wary of the marauding dinosaur, Kennari stays in the other room, sending a jolt of electricity at the beast in the hope that it's too busy trampling to dodge effectively.
Prism rushes back into the room. Quickly realizing that she isn't able to calm down the wounded dinosaur she tries to hold it back. "Maybe we can just leave it be in here?"
HP 71/71; Drained 2 (14)
AC 25 (+1 Shield Spell | +1 Inspire Defense and 2/- physical)
Spells: 1st 0/1; 2nd 0/1
Hero Points 2/3
Vibrant Display 1/10 minutes
Reflection of Life 1/Day 1/1
Unset tries to avoid the thunderous feet of the thunder lizard!
He then tries to bring it down as it tramples away.
He has a rough go at it. Nevertheless, battered and beaten, he is determined to end the rampage of the beast. He makes and leap and tries to slide under its spiky tail.
He then pops up from behind and swings a pair of meaty appendages!
Unset clobbers the dinosaur as it tramples its way around the room.
Prism carefully strikes it with the flat of her sickle, knocking out the badly injured dino.
The stegosaurus has several pieces of obsidian stuck in its hide, an attempt by the xulgaths to make it fiercer. You can remove these with a Medicine check. They are worth about 100 gp altogether.
The stegosaurus also knocked some big chunks of moonstone loose, which are worth about 200 gp altogether.
The xulgath has a note on her person! Luckily, Niksi can read Draconic. The note is on Slide 2. This text is followed by some mystical phrases.
"Are you all well?" Unset calls out to his allies as the stegosaurus collapses to the stone floor.
Peering at the note, Unset attempts to make sense of the mystical phrases.
"Sorry, they make little sense to me, I'm arfraid."
"Yea, I'm good. Somehow I didn't get a scratch at all with those popping demons." She looks around, peering on her tippy toes at the note.
she grabs the note and flips it over in all directions. "Thisdoesn't..meana..thing. Itis..gibberish."
"Are you sure?" Kennari stops looking at the note long enough to listen to Prism's explanation, nodding along by the end. "I see. That's disappointing, I must admit. I had hoped there was some stolen knowledge we could reclaim. Ah well." He rubs his chin for a moment. "What are the odds, do you suppose, that this 'Dusklight' misinterpreted the runes? You all seem to be somewhat familiar with her. Or are they lying to whoever this 'Shrashek' is? Perhaps stringing them along?"
"I'm not sure it is much of anything really. Someone wrote all that to just waste your time it looks like." Prism explains.
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After making sure everyone else is OK , Rova looks sadly at the stegosaurus. "I think that must have really hurt, but we can at least remove it for its journey to Pharasma..."
She quickly puts action to words, removing the black stones, while Prism and Kennsari puzzle out the mystical phrases. Finally she looks over the note herself: "I bet she was lying; she did that a lot," she answers Kennsari.
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”Oh! I just had the most delightful idea. I will hold onto that piece of paper if you do not mind. Just give me ten minutes.”
Niksi spends the ten minutes intensely focusing on something in her mental mindscape, not reacting to any external stimuli and not providing any herself.
As you emerge from the room, Ulthadar appears before you. The ghostly priest bows his head and says, “You have driven the heretics from my home before they could corrupt the heart of our temple. For that, you have my thanks. You have proven yourselves dependable allies to my order. If you wish to peer into the moonstone pools, I will not stop you.” He removes the delicate circlet from his brow, which appears more solid than his translucent body.
“This moonstone diadem can grant you sight into the pools before you. I can teach you to unlock its power, but the truth carries a heavy weight.”
He explains that one person needs to wear the crown and say the command word, but if you all link arms, you will all see the memories.
You must focus on a topic to get a vision.
Rova nods. "That sounds amazing! We can maybe get a vision of Groetus!"
Prism shudders, "You think it will show Groetus!?" She seems quite worried from the last visions she saw within the pool.
"Maybe!" Rova says excitedly.
Rova puts on the crown, and concentrates hard, but it does not show Groetus.
Ulthadar returns.
"The pool can only show things that happened here in Moonstone Hall, or memories that people have deliberately left here."
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"Oh," Rova says dispiritedly. Crestfallen, she takes off the crown and hands it to Kennari.
"Stupid hall. With that name, you would think it would have something about Groetus!" she mutters.
"Why would you....oh. Yes, I suppose I can see how you came to that conclusion. Well, perhaps I'll take a look." Putting the crown on his head, Kennari peers into the pool.
Prim sighs in relief. She was not looking forward to seeing groetus in any form. Even from afar. She curiously watches to see what Kennari sees
Kennari tries a few different topics, and is delighted to see examples of various Arodenite rituals from past years.
Once he starts focusing on aeon orbs, he gets a strong vision.
Ripples appear on the pool’s placid surface, then a vision swims clearly into view. The god Aroden stands atop a lofty peak. Across the islands below him, five towers crowned with five gleaming orbs rise into the dawn sky. Aroden’s hands have touched each aeon orb, and the reflection from each orb sparkles upon him. He lifts a longsword and gemstone cut into a five‑pointed star and begins to chant in a powerful, ancient language. His words evoke images of green growth, clear flowing waters, and radiant sunlight. As he completes his ritual, the aeon orbs flare and brilliant lines of golden light link each tower, crossing the miles between the structures and flowing toward the mountain where Aroden stands.
The sun rises and sinks overhead, first slowly, then repeating the pattern at dizzying speeds. The land flourishes, and humans walk its surface. Above them, the five orbs orbit their towers like jewels in glistening crowns. Suddenly, the throne atop the peak is empty: mighty
Aroden has died. The orbs lose their links to one another and begin to fade. Desolation creeps across the land as the bounty provided by the aeon orbs fades. Then, faintly, a new figure arises, the figure’s indistinct features overlaid with five separate, gleaming reflections. This new figure reaches out, light emerging from outstretched fingers to bolster the failing orbs.
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"That's not Groetus," Rova grumps, clearly still disappointed.
"Yeah, definitely not Groetus."
Kennari frowns and wracks his brain to remember anything he might know about this tableau.
Unset can offer no meaningful advice or explanation.
"One of these reflections overlaid on the figure...it seems to match the description of the reflection you acquired at the tower you visited. Do you think the other four could be somehow related?"
"Yeah, maybe," Rova says, slowly overcoming her disappointment at the lack of Groetan content in this temple. "I think we have to go find the rest of the orbs and get their reflections, or they're all going to fail and that would be really bad for everyone on the islands."
She turns to the ghost.
"Do you know what we need to do to get these reflections? And is there anything we can do to help you rest? I can understand why you want to avoid Pharasma's realm, but ... it seems like it's been a really long time to be here."
"Last time we just touched the orb and we got its reflection." prism stands in awe. "But what happens when we get them all?"
Ulthadar answers. "When you have all of the reflections, you must regnite the power of the orbs from Aroden's high throne in the Kortos Mountains!”
He doesn't seem to know exactly how you do this, but he's sure you'll figure it out.
"Most don't seem t'care for me own reflection," laments Unset, unconsciously rubbing an appendage across his chin. "But, t'would seem a good idear t'be gatherin' those left by a god, if you be thinkin' they could lead t'prosperity and benefit t'others."
You head back to the circus with a lot to ponder.
When you arrive, you find a huge commotion. Your new member Fidget, the ratfolk alchemist, fills you in.
"So the Dwarven Throwers were on guard duty, and they interrupted a group of folks from that other circus--the Celestial Menagerie?--and they were starting another fire! So the Dwarven Throwers ran them off and put the fire out, but the fire had started smoking already, and this was right outside Axel's tent, so the birds started choking, and we got them out as soon as we could, but one of them is real sick from the smoke, and Axel is beside himself!"
She stops to gasp for air.
Prism sighs with a sad face as she feels anger towards the Celestial Menagerie. "Are they just going to keep following us?" She stomps off to try and comfort Axel.
"Oh no!" Rova exclaims and rushes to see if she can help the bird.
Rova carefully examines the bird. She inhaled a lot of smoke, but Rova knows an herbal remedy to treat the effects, and soon the bird seems to brighten up. You think she'll be okay.
Axel looks incredibly relieved and offers you all some of the candy he uses in his act.
"I don't think the Celestial Menagerie folks are going to stop until someone gets killed. Maybe not even then!"
Niksi swaps for her pensive face plate. ”I agree. Perhaps something should be done about them. They do appear to be tied closely to this matter of Aroden and the xulgath. I have scruples as to whether the authorities will do anything—ancient dungeons and god-happenings of yesteryear are hardly the bailiwick of a town guard—but we can tell them if you all wish. I think instead that we should begin planning a way to infiltrate the Menagerie big top….”
"I don't mean to intrude upon your business" Kennari says, "but I do have an interest in seeing the defilement of local historical landmarks put to a stop. I would be glad to assist you however I can.
"To that end, actually, I have been meaning to put a proposal to you: you seem like a capable group, and unless I'm misunderstanding it seems you intend to visit more of the aeon towers. Would you allow me to accompany you on your explorations? In return, aside from translating and sharing any knowledge I am able to glean while there, I'm happy to do what I can to help your circus. I'm no showman, but I've a fair head for numbers and could probably even whip up some magical effects to liven things up, with a little practice."