This room contains two large cages, their bars decorated to appear as tree trunks. Each cage has a large door that hangs open. Vines hang from the ceiling, and thick leaves cover the floor. Dusklight’s voice cries out, ”For our next act, can our intrepid stars tame the terrors of the jungle, or will they end up at the bottom of the food chain?”
The north cage contains an enormous anaconda, while the east cage holds a pair of saber‐toothed tigers. As Dusklight’s voice falls silent, the beasts begin to emerge!
"Stop playing games and come out and face us! You are delaying the inevitable!" Ruinë surprises herself by declaring boldly, unsure where that came from.
She recognizes she can't make it to the cage in time, so she instead turns to Tasha and casts a spell on her. "Show us your heroism, Tasha."
As Ruine buffs Tasha, the smilodons pounce on Ashlion and Tasha, grabbing them in their maws as their sharp fangs scrape against their armor!
Tom throws a dagger at a smilodon before {A}Dashing over to the snake's door!
Then Tom slams the anaconda's door closed!
Unwilling to be a toy to be chewed on, Tasha squirms and twists and at last slips free from the tiger's grasp. She then stabs at it.
Ruinë slips up behind Tasha and Ashlion and casts Bless.
Tom’s dagger comes up short, but he is able to dash past the tigers and shove the door of the anaconda’s cage shut! The huge snake hisses and snaps, but is unable to join the fight!
Grelda casts phantasmal killer on the tiger grabbing Ash, but it resists the spell. Ash swings his maul to no avail. Tasha slips out of her attacker’s maw and delivers a critical hit! Ruine casts bless.
Ashlion’s tiger drags him to the ground, its saber-teeth shredding his armor. The other tiger snaps at Tashs but misses, then scores a critical hit with a claw!
Ruinë extends her bless to a range of 10' and then sends a ray of fire searing towards the tiger.
Tom makes sure he's in an advantageous place and then takes aim at the tiger.
Tasha stumbles back towards Ruinë, her normally lavender skin a bluish-gray.
The cleric reaches out and steadies Tasha, sucking in a breath as she notes her state. "Hold on!" she says, preparing to help her as soon as she can.
Ruine scorches the tiger that mauled Tasha, then Tom hurls two daggers into its back, dropping it to the ground! Tasha staggers back to Ruine’s side. Grelda scores a critical hit as she hurls a projectile at the second tiger, then despite his disadvantageous position, Ashlion smashes the tiger twice with his maul and takes it down!
Ruinë grabs a hold of Tasha to keep her from falling over and helps guide her to the ground. "Here. Sit here for a moment. I'll have you all patched up in just a moment."
She turns to the others and calls out "Ashlion, come as well." She begins to give medical attention to the both of them, taking a ten minute break in between to resupply and repeat the process.
You take a break for half an hour or so, allowing Ruine to nurse Ashlion and Tasha back to full health. Then you head into the next room. Images of moons and celestial bodies adorn the walls of this small room. A small cage made of wooden bars painted a garish red stands against the north wall. The disembodied voice of Dusklight coos, “Shh! Wouldn’t want to wake the Moon Mole!”
A round, furry creature not much bigger than a halfling is inside the cage. It has a single eyestalk and a mouth almost entirely obscured by its fur. It just looks so cute!
Both Tom and Tasha are fascinated by the strange beast. It chirps and stares at them in an endearing fashion...
Success The creature is unaffected.
Failure The creature is helpful toward the zuipnyrn for 1 hour.
Critical Failure The creature is helpful toward the zuipnyrn for 1 day and will actively attempt to defend the zuipnyrn and even risk its life to defend it.
Tom tries to pull his eyes away from the creature.
Then he pulls a blanket out of his bedroll and covers the cage with it.
Tasha approaches the creature. "It's sooo cute." She gestures towards Ruinë. "Come, [i]Milaya,[i] come see this adorable creature."
Grelda clucks her tongue as she looks at the furry creature. "I've read about these in the tomes of the Night Heralds. Their proper names are 'zuipnyrns,' and they are creatures from a distant planet beyond Golarion's solar system. They can beguile those around them to help them escape perilous situations. I do not think it is malevolent, but it appears Tasha has fallen under its suggestion."
Tasha reacts violently to Ashlion's grasp, twisting out of his arm. "You will never handle me like that again!" she snarls, her breath ragged and her skin taking on a grayish tone. "Never!" Her hands shake as she fumbles for her weapon. "You have two other women to manhandle like toys. I am not one of them!"
Keeping her eyes on the half-orc, she backs towards the creature's cage.
"What?! Cute?! Tasha?" Ruinë asks, watching Tasha with confusion. Things click in place when Tom covers the cage.
When Tasha snaps at Ashlion, she calls out "Tasha! Stop! He's just trying to help"
She dashes off after Tasha, calling after her and finally catching up. "Hey. Hey. He didn't mean it like that. I know you don't like to be touched. I'll talk to him about it, okay? Okay?"
"You trust me, yes? Listen to me closely, Tasha. This creature in the cage? It's done something to you. You need to listen to me, okay? Come here away from the cage."
Her expression of rage softens when Ruinë approaches. "But it's so cute, Milaya. Keeping something like that trapped is just more testimony to this woman's vileness. We need to free it."
She takes another step backwards towards the covered cage.
"Okay. We can talk about freeing later, perhaps? We have a reason for being here, Tasha. We need to focus on our objective and on our way out we can free it, okay? Look Tom put a blanket over it to keep it safe and hidden, it will be fine for awhile."
Tasha's face falls as Ashlion makes off with the cage filled with cuteness. "No," she whimpers. "We need to free it!"
"We will. Okay? Later? Like I said? We will do it on our way out? Think about how much better it will be then. We can perhaps bring it with us when we leave? You wouldn't want to free it now and have it get hurt, would you?"
"Sef, we have to take down Dusklight. It's the only way to make sure the cuteness can be free."
Barely getting through to Tasha, Tom opens the flap to the next room in the maze.
When Ashlion lifts the cage, Tom spots a silk purse beneath it that must have been dropped by a former customer. The purse itself is worth 10 gp, and it contains a gallow’s tooth and a single diamond earring worth 180 gp.
Tom and Ruine are able to talk Tasha down, promising to return to free the adorable Moon Mole after dealing with Dusklight. Once everybody is ready, Tom leads the way into the next chamber.
Garish swirls and splatters of paint cover the walls and floor of this room, along with several overturned paint buckets. Dozens of trapezes hang from the ceiling, each suspended ten feet above the floor. A purple‑haired gnome woman stands upon one of them, watching a pair of hulking clowns fight. “Nothing is what it seems in the Celestial Menagerie,” purrs the disembodied voice, “except perhaps our beautiful Jasmaile and her boys.”
The giant clowns seem to have been throwing the paint at each other, but they turn to look at you, plainly surprised to see you here so soon. Nevertheless, they bellow challenges and move to attack!
Tom throws his knives at the gnome perched on the trapeze, beginning a {A}juggle.
Ruinë joins Tom in shooting the gnome above, but she does so with fire.
Slightly annoyed that it seems that everyone is attacking the gnome when the giant clowns seem to be a much greater threat, Tasha moves forward to meet one of the large men, stabbing with her blade.
"Dusklight cares not for you and you will meet the same fate that is doomed for her," she announces.
Tom hurls two daggers into the gnome, then Ruine incinerates her with fire! The woman shrieks and plummets to the floor. When she hits with a thud, her body shifts and twists, revealing her true form, that of a purple-skinned humanoid with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth! Fortunately, she is quite dead.
Ashlion rushes up to the first giant clown, knocking him to a ground with a critical hit and then pounding him again. Tasha moves in and dispatches the prone giant with a blade to his throat! She fails to intimidate the second giant, though.
That giant steps up and swings its club in wide arcs, managing to clobber Tasha once.
Tom continues to {A}Juggle his knives, then he throws one and then lobs the other, catching the clown off guard!
Impressed by the brutal takedown of two of the three foes, Grelda settles for simply bashing the last giant over the head with a paint bucket!
With the death of the first giant, Tasha's swagger doesn't diminish in the slightest.
She follows Ashlion to the second giant and attempts the same maneuver, but as the coin of fate flips, the tip of her blade bounces off one of the big creatures buttons.
"I'm giving you one chance to flee, clown. My next blow will strike true!"
Ruinë glances at Tasha and sees that she is injured, but she appears to be okay for the moment so she keeps her mind set towards an offensive action. She whirls to face the giant and tries to burn it like she did the other one.
You stab, smash, bludgeon, and burn the giant, but Tasha misses with her finisher. That gives the giant one more chance to swing his club about, bashing Ashlion and Tasha. Then you take him down in swift order.
"I honestly don't understand why rational beings would side with that woman," Tasha says with a shake of her head as she cleans her blade. She looks over Ashlion. "It looks like you could use some healing."
Deciding to back off from fire for a bit and pay attention to Tasha, she moves to start treating her bleeding calf.
After spending a few minutes for Ruine to patch you up, you press on into the next room. Beyond the curtain is a large alcove. A single door stands beneath a sign reading “Welcome to the Maze of Mirrors.” The door is slightly ajar, and the dancing reflections of several tiny lights is visible within.
Tapered candles hang from the ceiling throughout the maze of mirrors, providing dim light, and long brocade carpets cover the floor. The mirrors aren’t glass but polished, durable steel. Reflections shift and warp in the flickering light, giving the mirrors the illusion of movement.
Ruine and Tom notice magical runes inscribed upon the entry door. It appears to be trapped.
Tom pulls out his tools and gets to work on the runes.
While Tom works on the runes, Grelda's occult senses detect an angry spirit that has been bound to the mirrors. She nudges her own fate and calls on the guidance of her star readings to intone a brief ritual and banish the spirit back to the netherworld. Tom is successful in disrupting the other magic, rendering the mirror maze safe to traverse. You navigate the maze and head into the next room.
Bamboo room partitions and crimson velvet curtains decorate this large receiving room. Subdued lanterns illuminate delicate paintings of cranes in flight. One of the bruisers who works for Mistress Dusklight is bound on the floor with thick ropes, his club lying just outside of his reach.
The curtain stirs and an armed man emerges into the foyer from a room to the west. The familiar face of deputy constable Darricus Stallit, who initially escorted you to meet Chief Constable Paldreen, relaxes into a friendly grin. “Thank all the gods it’s you,” he pants, lowering his blade. “She put up quite the fight, that one. If you hadn’t distracted her minions in the gallery, I would never have been able to apprehend her.” Darricus wipes the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
“You’ve done enough. I’ll get her transported and booked—she’ll be in a cell by sunrise, along with this goon Cobbin. I’ll make sure the chief knows how much you helped. Now, go get some rest. You’ve certainly earned it.”
Tom grins at the man. "Sounds good. Let's hit the sack guys.. Especially if the constable has taken over."
"ooooor...I could just burn the whole tent down." tossing an alchemist fire into a juggle.
"Yes, I'm sure that she put up quite a fight," Tasha purrs, her hand moving to her blade. "All the time she was mocking us, no doubt she was holding you at bay with her quick wit." She draws the blade slowly, letting the metal sing against its scabbard.
"One thing about living in a circus," she says, her stance widening as she nods at Ashlion. "After the first day you recognize the smell of shit no matter how well it's disguised." She points the tip of her blade at the constable. "Now you will get out of our way or fall before us - Dusklight will pay for her crimes."
Ruinë steps up behind Tasha and adds "Please."
Darricus shrugs. "Oh, well, it was worth a shot." As he raises his blade, the bruiser casts off his ropes and reaches for his club!