Unless we need them to open a gate?
If so, we need one fast-talking shyster.
Who could that be?
As the party talks about turning invisible and ask...Yrishi's voice comes floating out of some tiny crevice or tunnel Cheshire Cat style.
"There is another checkpoint after this one," she warns.
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Eschewing invisibility, Castinus opts for talk. His confidence bolstered by the knowledge that he has a number of unseen stone-cold killers lurking behind him, all with a trail of Aspis corpses in their wake. He steps forward, assertively.
"Gentlemen. Open up and let me pass. My business is none of yours. Let us just say that my purpose involves the Consortuium and leave it at that." He looks the two up and down gravely. "Or is there a problem here? Tell me your name, soldiers - I like to have a record note of such things"
Crowe stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Castinus.
His lip curls, "Open the damn gate."
The two guards pale at Castinus' words, especially backed up as they are by Crowe, though they also latch on to the more diplomatic approach taken by the others.
"No need for that, Sir. No need," one of them says.
"We're just doing our jobs, you know. You understand the trouble we'd be in if we didn't," the other chimes in, directing his comments to Castinus' companions rather than him.
"Just a quick look and you'll be on your way. We have to check everything, you understand," the first says and slowly takes the box.
The pair give the items a perfunctory look, shifting things in the box just enough to make sure they see everything and ensure their are no false bottoms.
"Curses, I heard there was a picture of Lady Adape with a centaur floating around...I was hoping they might have it. But now I'm starting to think it doesn't even exist," the one holding the box says.
"Curse you and your weird fetish! Give them back their stuff. Can't you see they mean business?" the other hisses back.
Crowe has a fiddle with the disguise kit and see what he can do.
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After kindly requesting that Diazepane or Castinus use the scroll on him, Kal's form shifts only slightly. His usual pale skin color takes on a deeper purple and the sometimes visible scales all but vanish into his form. The bright white cloak becomes a deep black and his armor vanishes into the folds of the fabric wrapped about him.
His facial features and hair remain mostly unchanged in the new form.
"Everything looks in order here, Sir," the man who looked through the box says as he hands it back over.
They give each of you only a cursory glance.
"Today's passphrase is 'the serpents rise again.' Don't forget to give it at the next checkpoint or the guards won't know you're good to go," he says.
A few dozen yards after they pass the checkpoint, Yrishi slides out of a hole near Grandblade's feet.
"Good job. You all look like real Undermarketers, now. So, about this lawful outlook...how does it influence the way you view and learn magic?"
But she also goes to Diazepane. "Alchemy? I've always been curious about alchemy. What goes into your base Reagent? It seems very versatile to be able to have so many diverse effects with just a few additions."
Farther along the tunnel, small communities of recently constructed but shoddy structures connected by narrow tunnels give way to large caverns littered with dilapidated buildings, the homes of squatters too poor to afford to live anywhere else.
Yrishi leads the group through Deepmarket, frequently pausing to listen for trouble. Eventually, the caverns shrink, turning into crude, winding tunnels.
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"Alchemy is indeed quite complex. 'The dose makes the poison,' alchemists say. Sometimes that's literal - small doses of poison build resistance. My own poisom resistance comes from being an apiarist - getting stung repeatedly helped build my tolerance. But it's also applicable in a general sense. Take saltpeter, for instance. At low concentrations it has an inhibitory effect on reactions; it's used in minute quantities to extend the duration of extracts. But at higher concentrations it has exactly the opposite effect, and is a primary component of many bombs."
Diazepane has a lot to say about alchemy.
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Ca\stinus paces through the narrowing tunnels, eyes ever alert for trouble. Of all the distant and dangerous places he has been, he feels for some reason more exposed here. maybe it is the watchful, hungry eyes that track them through the Undermarket; maybe it is the knowledge that they are in the heart of Aspis territory. He takes a thoughtful look at the waterways where they are visible amongst the caverns - maybe they would one way out of here if things turn sour? would being lost in the Darklands be a worse fate than captured by the Aspis? He shudders at the thought.
"Yrishi, are we there yet? We have business to attend to. Let's not make this a business trip, not a tourist route."
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The now dark-skinned Ganzi stalks alongside of Castinus- but seems far more interested in keeping a closer eye on their new companion.
"I am all for an inquisitive mind, but I believe he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by deceiving us"
"So what's a pipefox anyways? You seem quite interested in us, and our backgrounds. What benefit are these things to you?"
"Why, I am a pipefox, Kal'ryon. As to where we come from, no one is quite sure, but then the same can be said of humans and elves, can it not? Some say we are reborn scholars others that we are a type of Kami," Yrishi answers.
"Is not the love of knowledge for knowledge sake enough? My kind certainly think so. You are an interesting band and some of you, at least seem as interested in knowledge as I am,"
"Patience, patience. We're almost there," she answers Castinus.
And, indeed, the tunnels open slightly into a small cavern that ends in a wall of worked stone. An iron door bearing a raised image of a three-eyed beast on its face prevents entrance.
Yrishi shudders when she sees the door, her fur rippling down her full length in a wave.
"Your business brings you here but I do not like this place. I will await your return, out here," Yrishi says, finding a small crevice to hide in and watching.
Crowe raises an eyebrow, ”Have you not fought any Lamashtans before? That’s one of the symbols those crazy bastards use.”
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"I know quite a bit about religion. About everything, actually. This symbol must be incredibly obscure because I've never seen it. Definitely nobody else should try and identify it because if I can't, nobody can."
Castinus narrows his eyes sharply at Diazepane's tone, momentarily suspicious that he is being mocked. It is abundantly clear that of course the symbol relates to Lamashtu. No man of such learning could possibly get that wrong. He rolls his shoulders, flexing before the trouble he anticipates finding on the other side of the door. "This is no time for banter. Let's do what we came for." He looks around the group, questioningly: "Can someone please determine whether this door is safe?"
He knocks on the door once he has been given the all clear to do so.
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"To answer your question on the views of the Arcane and Axis, imagine having a very long mathematical algorithm that has determined everything's place in the properties of existence. Now imagine the algorithm changes and reorients itself to be correct every single time an integer varies from its original sum. The correction is Axis observing for any major magical occurrences of significant proportions. The variable amount of the integer is based on the scale of magic being used, such as the creation of a demiplane without supervision or guidance."
Castinus knocks on the door and it is opened by an Apsis agent.
Four exits lead out of this sparsely furnished room—an iron double door to the northwest, and three wooden doors leading north, east, and northeast. Worn wooden benches line the walls, and discarded bottles are scattered across the floor.
"Passphrase?" the man who opened the door demands.
"Right," the lead ratfolk agent replies to Diazepane's answer.
In what is becoming a familiar scenario, she takes the box from the Pathfinders and looks through it while the other agent gives them a good once over.
Grandblade will use his bonded object power to recall the spell Disguise Self and cast it again.
Crowe, becoming more comfortable in the role, rolls his eyes at the delay.
While one of the guards is searching through the contraband, the other one studies you all closely. His eyes narrow as he studies different portions of your clothing, accessories and general bearing.
"The point is for us to catch intruders like you that those slackers miss!" he answers Kal'Ryon.
He moves up, drawing a two bladed sword as he approaches and slashes at Grandblade.
He scores a palpable hit.
Diazepane's bomb, though not particularly violent is particularly effective, getting both agents in it's blast and riming one in ice.
Ichio steps into the fray, slashing with one sword.
The tengu lands a solid hit, but the ratfolk guard is still standing.
The other guard steps up, fighting very close to the first. So close, it's hard for Grandblade to see where her rapier is coming from.
She lands a well placed, but not particularly painful blow.
Crowe shakes loose his earthbreaker as he steps up .
"So it begins."
He struggles to quell the storm within.