Ignoring the mental assault entirely, Tasha steps forward while releasing the banshee blade. "We will cleanse this valley of your wretched stench!" she calls out.
Grelda just manages to resist the psychic attack, her resolve powering her through with no ill effects. She responds by cursing two of the enemies with the curse of death!
Ruine fires a ray of flame that goes wide. Ash brings his hammer down on the nearest xulgath, but Tasha fails to demoralize or hit her foe. Grelda curses the other two xulgaths.
Ash's foe raises a force shield and tries to cast another spell.
Somehow, both Ash and Tasha miss with their attacks of opportunity! It tries to warp Ashlion's mind.
The other two xulgaths target Grelda and Ruine with phantasmal calamities!
Their curse gets worse!
Ruinë fights through the pain through sheer determination and tries again with her fire ray.
Ash and Ruine make quick work of the already wounded xulgath, then the other two simply drop dead from Grelda's curse of death!
With the xulgaths slain, you can heal up and examine the scholar statue. The obelisks are carved with Azlanti text on all four sides. This text remains almost entirely legible despite the weathering of the stone.
Grelda is able to parse the archaic language. It explains about the 12 statues of Aroden scattered around the Vale and that each has a corresponding trial. A creature wishing to access the Verdant Beacon must first prove their worthiness, measured by successfully completing at least four trials.
Translating the text successfully completes the scholar's trial, and you feel a bit of magic settling around you.
Looking around, you see some tracks that must belong to one of Eilosseh's missing sheep!
Ruine's survival skills are sufficient to track the huge sheep. Ashlion uses his ability to converse with animals to convince it to return to the titan's side.
You have a choice of paths now. You can head north towards the tailor statue, or east toward the hunter statue.
Tasha nods. With everyone that works in the circus having to do stand-in tailoring at one time or another, they should be able to easily handle the challenge as a group.
You travel north along a well-worn path, reaching the next statue in about 40 minutes.
A ten-foot-tall statue of a barely-clothed man stands at the foot of a gentle slope, holding a long swatch of stone carved to resemble cloth draped over one arm. His opposite hand is empty, but from the rubble on the ground, it looks like he once held a stone needle and thread. Much of the “fabric” has also been smashed and broken, the sharp edges and chips of stone scattered nearby. A pair of xulgath corpses lie sprawled at the statue’s feet. Death hasn’t improved their telltale stench.
Tasha takes a moment to look over the statue. "For a tailor he's wearing a decidedly scant amount of clothing," she says with a smirk. "Is that the challenge? We're supposed to provide clothes for him?"
She confers with the others for a bit as they inventory what they have that could be used to clothe the stone figure.
"So it would seem," Grelda says. "I have the skill to craft some garments, if we can acquire enough raw materials. Did anybody pack a spare tent or two?"
Grelda shrugs. "I'll use our tent, then. Ash and I can sleep under the stars. I prefer it, anyway," she says with a smile.
The witch gets to work cutting up the tent and stitching the canvas together into a caftan suitable for clothing the statue. It takes several hours, but when she finishes and drapes the outfit over the statue, you can feel the magic settling over you, granting you another title.
"There. Shall we rest, or press on?"
Grelda shrugs. "I'll use our tent, then. Ash and I can sleep under the stars. I prefer it, anyway," she says with a smile.
"If, uh, you're going to be sleeping outside with us," Tasha begins as her skin shifts more to a violet color. "Can you ... uh ... not, you know, well ... you know?"
The witch gets to work cutting up the tent and stitching the canvas together into a caftan suitable for clothing the statue. It takes several hours, but when she finishes and drapes the outfit over the statue, you can feel the magic settling over you, granting you another title.
"There. Shall we rest, or press on?"
Tasha surveys the sartorial display with a nod of approval. "Yes, we should press on. More sheep to be found as well."
"According to the scholar's instructions, the thief's trial lies in the foothills to the northwest, far from the beaten path. Or we could continue east along the trail to the fisher's trial."
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"If, uh, you're going to be sleeping outside with us," Tasha begins as her skin shifts more to a violet color. "Can you ... uh ... not, you know, well ... you know?"
"WHAT?" Ashlion asks innocently, although there's a distinct twinkle in his eye.
When his wife gets the discussion back on track later though he shrugs. "WILL BE BETTER AT FISHING. COULD TRY TO BE SNEAKY THOUGH."
"You could certainly try to be sneaky," Tasha says with a grin. "Others may be more inclined towards it, though." She looks between the two paths. "Let us see what the trial of the thief entails, shall we?"
The sun begins to set as you trek northwest through the hills of the vale, and it is fully dark by the time you reach the thief statue. A dusty marble statue is tucked in a narrow, shallow canyon in the hills. The man depicted there wears close-fitting garments, a thick cloak, and a satisfied expression. One hand rests at his waist, but the statue’s attention is focused on his other hand held out before him, cupped as though to admire some absent treasure. A lingering stench hangs in the still air here.
Searching about, you notice footprints, spilled blood, and other indications of conflict. The smell of xulgaths is unmistakable; following the stench wafting across the canyon leads to the source: a heap of slain xulgaths dumped in a mountain gully.
Searching the area reveals signs of a hidden chamber beneath the statue, but activating the entrance requires manipulating several cunning latches. Fortunately, Grelda's thievery skills are up to the task, and after a few minutes, the statue rotates, grinding on a series of time-worn bearings, to reveal a 3-foot-wide hole in the ground.
Tasha watches as Grelda manipulates the various locks and latches, hoping to learn something. Once the narrow hole is revealed, she grins and nods.
"Now here's something I can do," she says with a wink towards her paramour. Without hesitation she drops into the hole. Five minutes later and some wriggling and twisting lets her slip through the bottleneck into the area below.
Unfortunately, Tasha fails to notice the spindly runes etched on the lip of the chute, right where it opens into the chamber. The runes unleash a gout of fire that roars up the chute!
Tasha finds herself dropping down into a round chamber about 20 feet wide and 30 feet tall. Her wings slow her ascent. A pedestal at the center of the room bears the missing treasure: a faceted emerald glowing with a soft green light.
Unfortunately, moments after the flames die down, the ground shakes as an enormous being leaps down from the foothills, landing sixty feet away from those still on the surface! They are a titan like Eilosseh, but this one has a far more sinister mien! The creature looms impossibly large as it hefts its enormous halberd!
The titan lets out a wave of negative energy as it tries to snuff out your life force!
Success The creature takes 10d6 negative damage.
Failure The creature takes 115 negative damage.
Critical Failure The creature dies.
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Ashlion's magnificent constitution fights off the spell as little more than a temporary annoyance. In the aftermath of the spell he surges up to a mighty fifteen foot height.
"I WILL ENJOY DESTROYING YOU!" He roars, charging forward to do just that!
The titan's space warping abilities don't save it as Ashlion rushes in to bring it down to size.
Continuing to twist and wrapping her wings about herself, Tasha avoids the flames entirely. Her attention only lasts an instant on the pedestal prize before the sound of something ... big ... reverberates from above.
Snatching the stone, she takes to the air again back to the hole above and begins wriggling through the narrow passage to the surface.
Grelda staggers and coughs up blood as the titan's spell badly wounds her. Realizing that the creature poses a significant threat, the witch wards her husband with a cloak of colors and a healing hex. "Be careful, my love!" she calls.
Ruine completely resists the titan's magic! She heals all of Grelda's wounds as Tasha flies back up out of the tunnel in the ground.
As Ashlion charges the titan, they swings their halberd, scoring a critical hit!
The barbarian slices the titan twice, causing them to roar in rage. The cloak of colors saves Ash's life, but he still takes another critical hit!
The swirling colors seem to cause the flying tiefling some difficulty as she approaches the behemoth. She releases the banshee blade to attack.
Ruine moves closer to Ash and calls forth a big heal for the barbarian! Grelda unleashes a spirit song, which the titan barley resists. Ash misses with most of his attacks, but the final strike is a critical hit, burning the titan! Tasha's dancing blade lands a light blow.
The titan misses with its first swing due to the cloak of colors. Its second strike connects, but the cloak flares with light, momentarily blinding the creature and making it miss with its final attack!
Ruinë casts Heroism on Tasha, helping her stay buffed while she's not directly next to the cleric.
Grelda unleashes another spirit song!
Leaving the banshee blade to its work, Tasha engages the huge figure with Piereta.
Ash slices the titan twice and Tasha lands a single solid hit, but still the mighty being remains standing! It howls with fury and attacks Ash again, swinging its halberd blindly! It scores two critical hits!
With two more mighty blows, Ashlion lays the enormous titan low! The ground shudders as it falls!
Tasha returns the gem she recovered to the statue's waiting hand, and you feel the magic settle over you as you gain the title of thief. You are also able to claim the titan's treasures that it looted from the xulgaths it killed: a +3 greater striking composite shortbow, a major sturdy shield, a high-grade adamantine maul, a greater breastplate of command, and a sack containing all the requisite materials to construct an instant evisceration snare.
"That was a pretty brutal fight," Grelda says, moving to her husband's side. "I'm glad you are okay, my love! This might be a good place to rest and recover before resuming our explorations tomorrow."
"Yes, a good place to rest," Tasha says, looking around for somewhere with a clear view of the sky.
As the sun sets, she pulls Ruinë closer to her as they sit with a shared blanket wrapped around their shoulders. "The stars seem even more beautiful here. Is it perhaps since we're so high up that they're closer?" she questions.
The peace and thoughtful moment are interrupted a moment later as Ashlion proceeds to loudly 'thank' his wife.
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"IT WOULD TAKE A MUCH LARGER FOE TO DEFEAT ME, MY LOVE!" Ashlion booms cheerfully. He tries on the breastplate, seems quite impressed by the shortbow and even slings the adamantine maul over his back.
"WILL BE ABLE TO KNOCK DOWN A CASTLE WITH THIS!" He says, seemingly quite excited about the idea.
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Later that night Ashlion demonstrates to Grelda just how much he loves and appreciates her. Ruining Tasha and Ruine's evening is an unfortunate side-effect.
Grelda returns the appreciation to her husband, loudly and passionately.
**
The next morning, you resume your quest! You find some tracks of an Elysian sheep nearby, tracking it down with a couple of hours' effort and sending it off to rejoin the flock. You return to the main path through the Vale of Aroden and head towards the next statue.
Along the way, your path crosses that of a patrol of four hulking adamantine golems! Thanks to your efforts to gather the titles, though, the constructs recognize you as rightful occupants of the vale and ignore you.
Less inclined to ignore you, though, are a patrol of creatures no doubt sent by the xulgath leader, Sarveth Ever-Hunger, to impede your progress! Two hulking saurians lead a group of four beasts resembling tentacled theropods. Luckily, these foes prove little match for your prowess, and you dispatch them handily before continuing on.
By midday, you have reached the next statue. A ten-foot-tall statue of a weathered, rugged man stands among waist-high reeds. One hand holds a reel, though the accompanying rod has been broken off. In its other hand, the statue grasps a net holding a carved fish gasping for air. The statue’s stony gaze overlooks the rocky shores of a wide lake with startling turquoise waters so placid they resemble a pane of stained glass. Despite the impressive vista, a gentle breeze carries the scent of rotten eggs up from the water to compete with the stench rising from a decaying, two-headed draconic corpse splayed near the statue.
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Ashlion examines the statue with interest and pokes the draconic corpse a few times.
"WE HAVE TO CATCH ONE OF THESE?" He asks, "DO NOT KNOW STORIES OF THE DEAD GOD. BUT COULD CATCH ONE! WALK INTO LAKE AND SHAKE IT!"
You all know he can do it, the walking on water part at least, and wrestling a two-headed dragon does seem like the kind of thing Ash would find fun.
Grelda examines the draconic corpse. "I'm not sure what sort of creature this may be, but I'd wager it won't be an easy foe to defeat! We should be ready for a tough fight."
She casts foresight on Ash, followed by a cloak of colors, then finally inspires the party with her heroic presence, instilling everybody with zealous conviction.
"This ought to be interesting," Tasha says with chuckle. "I don't know how good of a swimmer you are," she says to Ruinë, "But it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to stay on shore."
She spreads her wings and takes to the air to swoop low over the water as Ashlion does his best to draw up a similar beast.
Only a few moments after disturbing the water, an enormous two-headed beast emerges! The dragon has small, stumpy legs, and its heads resemble water snakes or eels. The heads roar a challenge in stereo!
Ash manages to slice the two-headed dragon! It roars and breathes forth a cone of acid, then follows up by biting at the barbarian, scoring two critical hits!
Remaining airborne, Tasha releases the banshee blade and then dives in to stab with Piereta. Her aerial assault leaves something to be desired, however.