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The party decides to let Nabil have his fun. And he certainly does! He spends a day marking up his maps, studying the local astral plane, especially the power of the Taldaris constellation. It’s hard not to feel some associated pleasure as Nabil is having so much fun! He even takes out a monocle from somewhere and studies things even more closely.
As the day winds down, and he’s running out of time, he looks guiltily at the party, and twists the monocle - extending it to a full telescope! Magical indeed and surprising magic from the little doll. It’s a very beautiful object.
He, reluctantly but hopefully, gets back into the secure storage where he can continue to hide from the marut searching for him.
You return to Axis without trouble. It’s evening when you return and all seems quiet. You enjoy a very fine dinner and have a few hours if there’s anything you want to do tonight.
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Not much else to do until they make their report in the morning, so Kamari spends her night sipping and snacking as usual, hoping the marinade will help her figure out what in the world, astral plane, whatever, is going on.
"Good good, that's how it should be. This is good," Kort tries to help Nabil do his work, understanding there would only be this one chance.
Returning to the unreal lawful world, Kort will find a nice place to eat and review whatever notes and books might be around.
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Muri shrugs as Betony bestows time to the doll to figure things out longer on the Astral. The empty, mostly nothing, Astral. Not entirely nothing, of course. There's still Betony, and there's still the doll, who engages the void with avid interest the halfling can't understand.
He also doesn't understand who's on who's time here. When Nabil turns back to the Hole of Hiding, Muri is surprised. No pocket watches, no setting sun, no gurgling tummies, just some unsaid mutual understanding between the elven and the eldritch and the doll that time is officially run its course. The monocle/telescope thing confuses the halfling even more, as the monocle is such a personal up-close thing, and the telescope would be maybe more useful in spanning the void.
He can't tell why a brief look of guilt passes the over the doll's face, and his interest in asking isn't there. Only the interest in returning back to Axis, and back to task.
Dinner pleases both dog and halfling, as does the promise of sleep, as following sleep is dependably another day closer to not being on Axis.
He had said earlier he was poor, but you'd expect this item is quite valuable. It makes you wonder if he is in fact poor, or if perhaps this is just his most prized possession. You suspect the latter as he couldn't afford the relatively cheap cost of Astral travel.
- - -
You enjoy an excellent meal once again and enjoy a relaxing evening. There’s a message waiting from Lieutenant Fanalyx to come and speak with her when you have an opportunity. It doesn’t say ‘immediately’ or anything so you put it off until morning when she’ll be in the office.
However, it’s about two in the morning, just barely into Lamashan 4, an Oathday when there’s a bit of excitement. Sleep ultimately eludes you - there’s a tremendous clattering of collapsing stone! The crunch echos throughout the district so it must have been something large. The noise came from the direction of the cemetery.
Kamari hops out of bed and takes a minute to put on her clothes and equipment since it doesn't seem to be one of those emergencies requiring sword fighting it the buff. Fully dressed and prepped, she heads outside where she expects to find everyone else.
Kort intends to be ready in the early morning to visit the Lieutenant. He tried to remind himself to ask why the Lieutenant wanted to be a Lieutenant. It’s seems to him that no one truly qualified would ever *want* to be a Lieutenant…it seems like a lot of work and responsibility, but without enough power or underlings to make it interesting. It’s always seemed like a crummy path to him.
No one in their right mind would choose to be one.
However, upon hearing the clatter, he is quick to get up and get dressed to get out there. He will follow Kamari’s lead.
Muri is accustomed to early morning activities, shepherding not too removed from farmhanding, so the noise arising before what might be dawn on Golarion, and the halfling and herding dog are prepped for a full day's venture. He joins the others as they aggregate, then heads directly to the source of noise. He briefly entertains picturing what the cemetery must look like on the Astral, when the dead depart for the afterLife.
"So, we're going to face off against more cannon fodder? We're not going to see the real enemy here on Axis, just who they sent again?" Muri isn't tired, but he sounds tired.
Elen quickly throws on her dancer’s garb and sleeves and heads out to wait for the others.
By the time you arrive, where you’ve been before (link), hundreds of inevitables and axiomites have surrounded the cemetery grounds. They stand ready for battle though it seems quiet at the moment.
There’s a cloying miasma seeping out of the cathedral and poisoning the nearby graves. A few undead, oozes, and the like have risen, but they are quickly dispatched as they reach the wall of defenders. For the most part they are wandering aimlessly on the grounds.
It doesn’t take long to find Lieutenant Fanalyx, also on the scene. She, unlike many of the other defenders, will speak to you. She explains that part of the Hall of Final Deeds (the cathedral) has sunk into the ground. It coincided with a supernatural presence that began spilling out of the ground and contaminating the entire area.
”Local forces are focused on containment, for this contamination stands to poison the local yasht fields - and even usurp part of the plane’s quintessence! However,” she rolls her eyes, ”You, as outsiders, are not bound by this and, though I think it’s foolhardy, as investigators you are permitted inside. To investigate.” she adds frankly.
She considers a moment, before asking ”Would you? Go investigate? Our standing orders are to contain and avoid contact except as they attempt to close. Those orders do not extend to you however.”
”That said, this feels a little, unusual. I mean, sure, we haven’t had an attack in this district in a very long time. Now all of a sudden you appear, push to find one of our more powerful inevitables, Taldaris, and just as we finish our divinations and have something of a clue - this happens.”
”It may be a trap.”
Perception checks please as you stand on the line talking to the lieutenant.
Kort looks on as he thinks how quickly the party will absolutely be willing to walk into this obvious trap.
Perception
”Yeah, let’s see here…” Kort hedges for a moment.
Overcome by the miasma. Elen shrugs and looks to the others for aid.
"We'll do what we can." she says in an attempt to reassure the lieutenant.
Major Kort, and possibly others, sees another eyeball, very similar to what you saw trying to escape when fighting the worm that walks in Taldaris’s home. It sees you see it, and tries to escape! You each have one round of actions before it disappears - fleeing toward the large structure. It’s 20’ away at present and watching you. However where you are in the cemetery everything is difficult terrain due to the many gravestones and rich landscaping.
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”It may be a trap.”
"Eye! Eye! Capt---uh, Lieutenant!' Kort points out the assuredly jerky eye for all to espy.
Once it is pointed out to her, Elen immediately moves across the difficult terrain and tries to whomp the eyeball.
”You’re not going anywhere!”
For
Hits: 84/84
Current AC: 35
Current Saves: Fort: +12; Ref +11; Will: +8, +10 if Enchant (Elf) (+2 cloak)
(Normal) AC: 22 (Bare naked save for Mask and Dodge)
flat: 18 (ring +2, nat armor +2, mage armor +4)
touch: 24 (ring +2, Dex +5, Cha +6, Dodge +1)
CMD = 30
WandofMageArmorCharges = 12/50
Wand of CLW: 13/50
Resolve = 8/8
Challenge = 4/5
Hero Pts: 3/3
The tiny eyeball, only slightly larger than a human eye, is splattered by Elen as she dances over the gravestones. Whatever information the eye may have been gleaning, it knows nothing now and can see no more. It oozes a black nasty pus as it deflates.
”Well that’s unnerving!” swears the lieutenant. She continues, ”I wonder how long that’s been watching. I’ll pass the word along the lines to watch for those things. In the meantime, thank you for looking into this. It will be appreciated, I promise you.”
Kort casts Magic Circle Against Evil on himself and follows that up with a True Seeing, Resist Energies Cold/Fire 30, Daybreak Arrows, and Shield of Faith (himself and extended on Kamari...a +4 deflection, which I think you get +2 of).
Kort, with crossbow ready, is ready to go in.
"... Oops. Honestly -- it looked bigger from over there..."
Elen follows the others into the cathedral to investigate the source of the seeping.
"It may be a trap.”
"It's chaos. It's meant to attract attention." Muri looks on, mostly blind to the subtleties of sneaky eyeballs. "Whatever it is, it's waiting for someone to approach. And it's interested enough to send those eyeballs out." Muri looks about, accustomed to two eyes at one time.
"So, we go. Chaldira would be disappointed if I didn't look into this, especially in the sacred ground." Muri yahs Underfoot ahead, taking to the cathedral grounds, and waiting for the inevitable confrontation with something or someone big enough to make such a ruckus.
Kamari thanks Kort for the protection and joins the others.
Muri doesn’t see the second eye.
You pass the defensive line, spaced out every few feet so no one can get past without notice. One of the defenders frowns as you pass - not liking ‘outsiders’ helping out with their task.
The plane’s quintessence has warped and roiled in this area. You see a few lesser undead milling around, skeletons mostly. You destroy them as you move forward. They are moving randomly and without focus and are no threat. These risen abominations resemble ghastly assemblages of petitioners, inevitables, and other lawful beings congealed from the miasma.
The stench is horrendous and gets worse as you close with the Hall. It crawls up your nose with intent, and chokes you at the back of the throat.
One round of actions only please. Moving through the graveyard is difficult terrain unless you are on a path. During your first move toward the Hall, please make a DC 17 Fort save or be sickened (-2 att/dam/save/skill/ability checks). Please feel free to roll a perception check as well at the end of your round (possibly with a penalty).
Elen moves slowly to keep up with the others in the group.
Though, the stench is still getting to her.
You may apply poison resistances/immunities to the odor fort save.
Kort doesn't seem to be affected by the miasma, probably from his years of digging latrines in the army.
Perception
With his bow at the ready, Kort moves up.
One of the defenders frowns as you pass - not liking ‘outsiders’ helping out with their task.
Muri sees the frown, and returns the frown. "Lieutenant Fanalyx asked us to move forward, because you can't. Orders, right? If you want to join us, disobey. Don't disrespect my friends with your look."
The halfling rider and dog mount advance on the cemetery grounds, an unease unavoidable. Back on Golarion, a cemetery would be predictable enough for what might emerge from a grave. Here, Muri is unsure what kind of undead is possible, if outsiders merge with the plane, instead of fester below its grounds...
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The Night Swan takes the lead with Muri. Between her mask and her cowl covering her mouth, she barely even notices the stench.
The outsider says nothing to Muri, though his scowl remains.
Some of the more powerful creatures to be raised by the sickening stench close with you and attack as you pass the line. Nearby you see a blighted quintal - a ghostlike creature that reeks of the grave and drips with putrescent goo. Oh, and there’s another - and another! Major Kort spots them first, and can act in the surprise round (their action is to move to where they are on the map).
A festering spirit arises when a vile person’s corpse is put in a mass grave, or when such a person is buried, exhumed, and placed in a charnel house or ossuary. The lingering hatred and evil of the dead mixes with the worst remnants of dozens of other people, creating a frustrated incorporeal shade of sickness, hate, and rot. Powerful mortals might arise as multiple festering spirits, each spawned from a different aspect of the original creature’s personality.
- - -
Know (Religion)
”Ooh, would you look at that. That’s probably where the smell the coming from. We should…” Kort explains what he thinks might be good against the undead.
No DR, but they are incorporeal so take half damage from magic weapons.
Their attacks do con damage instead of physical damage, so they're very dangerous!
Slime (Su) A festering spirit's slime resembles the putrefying sludge of decaying corpses. Any creature that is hit by the spirit's incorporeal touch attack, passes through its square, or hits it with a natural weapon or unarmed strike must attempt a DC 16 Fortitude save. On a failure, the creature is nauseated for 1d4 rounds, and on a success the creature is staggered for 1 round. A festering spirit's slime persists on objects and creatures for 1d10 minutes but has no harmful effect after its initial contact. Creatures immune to poison or disease are immune to this ability.
And their stench is not making things better but I think everyone saved.
Round Surprise
Kort fires at the closest incorporeal jerk.
to hit; (+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
hp: 116/116
AC: 22/16/18
Saves: F9/R15/W14 +4 vs. enchantment, +2 vs. illusions +6 vs. poison
Lowlight. PBS.
Aroden's Verve: 0/10 used
Adhere to the Law: 0/4 used
Extend Rods: 3/6 used
Quantum Leaps used:
Pathfinder Carry: 0/0
Staff of Courage: 0/0
0: (create water, detect magic/poison, light, stabilize,read magic)
1: 1/11 used (CLW*0,Shield*0,PfE*0,DF*1)
2: 2/11 used (Inv*0,RE*1,*CE*0,SInv*1,LesRest*0)
3: 4/9 used (H*2,DM*0,DayBreakArrow*1, MCaE10'*1)
4: 0/8 used (GrInv*0,CCW*0,FoM*0)
5: 0/4 used (CLWM*0,FlStr*0,TruSee*0)
[ dice]1d20+8[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6-1[/dice] damage.
[ dice]1d20+15+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+15+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+10+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+5+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
touch to hit; (heroism,PBP)
fire damage
Elen spring attacks the blue undead
For
... and somehow manages to completely miss anyway.
Hits: 84/84
Current AC: 35
Current Saves: Fort: +12; Ref +11; Will: +8, +10 if Enchant (Elf) (+2 cloak)
(Normal) AC: 22 (Bare naked save for Mask and Dodge)
flat: 18 (ring +2, nat armor +2, mage armor +4)
touch: 24 (ring +2, Dex +5, Cha +6, Dodge +1)
CMD = 30
WandofMageArmorCharges = 11/50
Wand of CLW: 13/50
Resolve = 8/8
Challenge = 5/5
Hero Pts: 3/3
Round 1
Kort fires a clustered volley of bolts at the nearest jerk.
to hit; (+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
hp: 116/116
AC: 22/16/18
Saves: F9/R15/W14 +4 vs. enchantment, +2 vs. illusions +6 vs. poison
Lowlight. PBS.
Aroden's Verve: 0/10 used
Adhere to the Law: 0/4 used
Extend Rods: 3/6 used
Quantum Leaps used:
Pathfinder Carry: 0/0
Staff of Courage: 0/0
0: (create water, detect magic/poison, light, stabilize,read magic)
1: 1/11 used (CLW*0,Shield*0,PfE*0,DF*1)
2: 2/11 used (Inv*0,RE*1,*CE*0,SInv*1,LesRest*0)
3: 4/9 used (H*2,DM*0,DayBreakArrow*1, MCaE10'*1)
4: 0/8 used (GrInv*0,CCW*0,FoM*0)
5: 0/4 used (CLWM*0,FlStr*0,TruSee*0)
[ dice]1d20+8[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6-1[/dice] damage.
[ dice]1d20+15+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+15+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+10+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+5+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
touch to hit; (heroism,PBP)
fire damage
Elen doesn’t connect, but does leave it flat footed (intelligent undead). Major Kort connects solidly and starts to do a little damage and then bombards the poor creature with a volley of painful piercings.
You hear a few cheers of encouragement from the line, not very far away at all. But they do not move to assist, following their orders.
The undead close.
Red and green both double move - for though they are incorporeal and are not subject to the difficult terrain you face - they still have to move and were far away.
Blue charges Major Kort and attacks! Elen gets an AoO I think as it closes.
As it passes through the Major, it tears into his spirit, far more painful a blow than mere flesh can accomplish.
for
for
for
for
Round 1, AC 30 with Kort's assistance
Kamari uses nimble moves to 5' step in the difficult terrain and then stabs numerous times at the creature while confident her very very magical rapier will affect it. Of course, it would work out better if her aim was better.
-
--
Round 1, Init 5
AC = 25
HP = 97/97
Weapon Equipped = Good Bow
Condition(s) = None
AC = 29
HP = 118/118
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = None
Muri shivers a bit, understanding they stand in the midst of corruption. For the groundswell, the halfling calculates the likelihood that they'll not avoid their touch, unless they can slay them outright. He reaches for the remaining blanched arrows, grateful for the right tool at the right time. The halfling targets the incorporeal in Underfoot's face, ignoring the risk of proximity, as the malinois' paws squish in the muck.
Round 1
Kort withdraws over the icky ground.
Elen hits Blue with the AoO as it closes. She sets it up for [b]Kamari to finish off! With a puff of necrotic gas, the creature is vaporized into nothingness. There’s a cheer along the lines!
This mean’s Elen’s main round will be against red, after Edelmira sets it up.
Round 2
Kort fires a clustered volley of bolts at the nearest jerk.
to hit; (+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
hp: 116/116
AC: 22/16/18
Saves: F9/R15/W14 +4 vs. enchantment, +2 vs. illusions +6 vs. poison
Lowlight. PBS.
Aroden's Verve: 0/10 used
Adhere to the Law: 0/4 used
Extend Rods: 3/6 used
Quantum Leaps used:
Pathfinder Carry: 0/0
Staff of Courage: 0/0
0: (create water, detect magic/poison, light, stabilize,read magic)
1: 1/11 used (CLW*0,Shield*0,PfE*0,DF*1)
2: 2/11 used (Inv*0,RE*1,*CE*0,SInv*1,LesRest*0)
3: 4/9 used (H*2,DM*0,DayBreakArrow*1, MCaE10'*1)
4: 0/8 used (GrInv*0,CCW*0,FoM*0)
5: 0/4 used (CLWM*0,FlStr*0,TruSee*0)
[ dice]1d20+8[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6-1[/dice] damage.
[ dice]1d20+15+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+15+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+10+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
[ dice]1d20+5+2+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS,+heroism)
magic cold iron damage; (clustered)
touch to hit; (heroism,PBP)
fire damage
The Night Swan stands her ground and swings with power and verve three times at the spirit next to her.
HP: 127/127
AC: 35/14/34
Saves: F14/R14/W15 (+2 vs ingested/inhaled diseases)
Hero Points: 3
Spells/Conditions Active: Fastidiousness
0: (Grasp, Light, Oath of Anonymity, Spark)
1: 1/3 used (Fastidiousnessx1, Serren’s Swift Girdingx0)
[ dice]1d20+21[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d10+9[/dice] damage.
Edelmira manages three hits, carving ectoplasm in vast swaths! Kamari finishes what others began - destroying the festering spirit. Muri takes a swipe as he hits (almost) every time! He destroys his spirit though it does take all four shots. Elen dances into flank with Edelmira and hits it (no crit as it’s incorporeal) finishing it off! Major Kort, having nothing to shoot, wisely keeps his bolts ready for the next menace.
Not sure what Muri's touch AC is, but I'm betting it's not that low... Miss!
The cheering continues all along the line as the party vanquishes the powerful undead, with just a scratch themselves. We’re no longer in rounds - at least until you open the doors to the cathedral.
Perception
After the battle, the good Socratic Professor Major Kort will move to the doors of the cathedral to examine them for things that might be bad.
With crossbow in hand, he will move back and be ready to support opening the doors.
"Ok, so there's ghosts. I don't know what I expected, entering a cemetery, but it felt different here on Axis." Muri produces more blanch, and proceeds to coat several bunches of arrowheads for what's to come. He wordlessly expects his companions to wait opening the cathedral doors until he's kitted out.
Kamari stands alongside the elder half elf with the wiser eyes and does her best to assist, mostly by remaining quiet--not an easy task though.
Elen moves up and prepares for the doors to be opened.
Muri and Underfoot circle the Hall to the front doors, picturing a direct view down the center aisle of the interior. He listens for the sound of the second set of doors to open, before he tries his own set, and enter to face more undead.
After a brief pause for Muri to prepare, the party moves on to the doors. Ready, Major Kort opens them to reveal the entry hall.
Interspersed between the many tall, narrow windows in this grand entry hall are rectangular plaques commemorating the last 2,000 creatures that underwent dissolution here to honor their memories. Each new plaque replaces the oldest one, which is sent to the forges of the neighboring district Halgrimard to be forged into weapons for Axis’s armies. You’ve been here before, and it’s still quite impressive.
A few more blighted quintals are in the process of pulling the plaques from the lower walls however, and otherwise desecrating the building. They must have some ghost touch ability or the like to effect the physical world like that! Cheaters!
A bit from the door is another horrible sight. A filthy, shuddering mass of sludge and bones seems to have formed from a mass of muddy grave soil. The creature is busily gnawing on the arbiter Iphalt-C! Iphalt-C is not looking good…
Gravesludges straddle the line between oozes and undead. Primarily made of ectoplasm and grave dirt, gravesludges spontaneously arise in areas where a grave is desecrated, near strong haunt activity, and in the defiled graves of unhallowed cemeteries. Intelligent undead often entreat gravesludges to bolster their defenses, but solitary gravesludges wander cemeteries, charnel houses, and ossuaries, driven by little more than a burning jealousy and hatred for the living. Occasionally, living creatures work with a gravesludge to secure a grisly form of life after death as juju zombies.
- - -
The fetid sludge gnaws on the little sphere with the deep sonorous voice - currently screaming in pain and spits him out. He casts a wall of ectoplasm (link) over Muri's way. Muri, please make a DC 20 will save or become shaken (fear).
The three blighted quintals close (double moves) to the Night Swan by the door.
Know (Dungeoneering)
Kort examines the ooze, trying to figure out what might be best against it.
"Hang in there, Arbiter! We're coming!"
Create Spawn (Su) A creature slain by a gravesludge animates as a free willed juju zombie 1d4 rounds after it is slain.
Lifeleech (Su) When a gravesludge deals negative energy damage to a creature (on a hit), that creature continues to take 1d6 points of negative energy damage at the start of its turn each round. This effect can be stopped via magical healing, and otherwise stops on its own 3 rounds after the initial slam attack. Multiple slam attacks extend the duration of this ongoing negative energy damage but do not increase the amount of damage.
Swift Slam (Ex) A gravesludge can attack twice with its slam attack as a standard action. Cheater.
- - -