Haleen keeps stabbing all bugs in reach.
Bylo and Haleen struggle about who gets to kill the bugs first. In the end both bugs are properly dead.
Yasmeena alternates between her battle dance and her dance of 23 steps, firing arrows at the remaining bugs.
The remaining bugs fall out of the air. If they drop because they are dead, or for exessive weight from adding arrows to them isn't entirely clear. But they don't move any more.
"Really annoying pests. Do you think the garden is now safe?" Haleed inquires.
"Because it for sure is a nice change, after lava, fire sky and everything being too hot, even for one from Katapesh."
With combat apparently over Bylo takes out his wand and starts healing himself and the others. "Do we want to search this garden area or check out that door?"
"I vote for garden."
Taking a walk through the garden reveals some more of the beauty to the observant eye. Plants not known on Golarion blossom here in the brightest colors.
Three animal pens open into the northeast wall. The once barred doors of these pens have been broken through, and each holds a small magical font, a bowl with 2 gallons of pure water some food next to it.
formed obsidian globes) sits in the northwest pool.
conifer tree is a skeletal hand still clutching a +2 shocking
burst short sword.
Yasmeena spots a necklace in one of the pools, and a magical short sword (with attached arm) in the insect nest. She retrieves them and smiles. "The sword is magical-- we can identify it later."
Bylo nods appreciation at the pearls. "Pretty."
Yasmeena leads the group to the other exit and listens intently before proceeding upward.
The stairs climb from below into this guardroom. Loopholes look out over the garden and surrounding roof walk, while the room opens into the main palace dome to the north. The walls are adorned with crossed scimitars hung below antique bucklers. Several of the scimitars have been removed, leaving only the wall hooks where they once hung.
Suddenly you hear someone raggedly scream outside, creating eerie echoes. Looking through the loopholes you see two efreet patrolling the roof walk. A door exits to the south to this area.
Bylo stays by a loophole to watch the efreet and look for who/whatever screamed.
After watching a while you find that the efreet are the ones screaming.
Bylo steps back shaking his head. "Those efreet are crazy. They're just screaming. No apparent reason but to make noise...."
“Hmm,” Aith says, attention snapping back to the business at hand now that (sadly) the garden and roasted bugs (not sadly) are left behind. “Who would leave poor mad souls to wander around on their own? Could it be an enchantment?”
She tries to guess if the mad efreet are likely to wander close enough to her loophole to scan for magic pressing down on their spirits, and if it’s safe to leave them alone. Are they the ones who helped themselves to the scimitars once displayed on the walls? That … wouldn’t be ideal, but so long as they don’t start trying to take anyone’s head off… “Should we just try to find that imam, for now?”
The crazy is strong with these ones. And it probably is the agressive kind of crazy. If they are crazy enough to not be able to open doors has to be evaluated still.
Bylo shrugs at the comment. "They might be crazy, or just following orders and good at acting the part. I don't think they'd answer any questions. Let's check out the door there."
Yasmeena nods. "Agreed," she says quietly. She goes over to check the door for locks and traps.
The door is unlocked and untrapped. As one would expect for a building where people live in and move around.
Yasmeena confirms for the others that it seems to be open with a nod, and gestures to Neelah to fly the carpet forward.
You pay the efreet a visit and they attack immediately screaming again.
The first charges Neelah, as she enters on the carpet.
As the first efreeti closes with a scream, Aith angles for a clear shot, her cold pistol snapping up almost with a will of its own with hostile fire creatures about. When she sees her moment, she squeezes the trigger, keeping an eye out for open sightlines and maybe a chance to catch both efreet with one spell if she can gather her thoughts in time.
Bylo shakes his head and moves forward to try and hit one of the apparently crazy efreet.
Haleen holds back to see what Yasmeena will do about them.
Aithaloessa and Bylo both manage to wound the crazies, but it will take more to take them down.
Neelah stabs at the efreet with her spear and then tries to guide the carpet out of the efreet's reach.
"I suppose we must put these poor mad efreeti out of their misery..." Yasmeena says, drawing her bow as she fires it.
Neelah pokes the efreet some, and then Yasmeena obliterates him, and wounds the next one badly.
Haleen quickly moves to the one still standing, and stabs it.
With both Efreet down, this hostile meeting ends.
With nothing of interest on the Efreet, it is onwards to the other areas. The stink o frot and death penetrates your noses as you move on. Shortly before the narrow corridow widens into a spacious area there is a door on the right in the outer curve of the way.
Behind the door is an opulent chamber that was clearly the quarters of someone of importance of approximately human size. Furniture constructed of brass and fire-blackened wrought iron provides a table with two chairs, a comfortable canopied bed, a wardrobe, and a footlocker.
The wardrobe contains fine dwarf-sized clothing, and includes elaborate court costumes, jewelry and adornments with a total value of 1,850 gp. Stored within the footlocker is a brass walking cane with a grip shaped like the head of a phoenix.
Advancing with what passes for caution with her, Aith pokes her head into the next room, nose wrinkling as she tries to figure out where that smell is coming from – ideally, the better to avoid it, but that’s probably not the way her luck is likely to go.
“This fellow we’re looking for right now,” she says, a bit distracted by taking a quick peek into the room’s furniture, “the gross priest? I suppose he must be close by, what with that, er, aroma in the air. But this doesn’t look so terrible, so I wonder whose it all is, or was?”
She gives the phoenix-headed cane a frankly ridiculous flourish from an improbable grip, but then again, it’s not really sized for a lanky elf, so some sort of improvised sceptre it might have to be.
The cane is indeed magical.
Bylo frowns at the fancy attire and checks everything for magic as well. Seeing the complicated auras on the fancy cane he just shrugs.
"I've never met a dwarf that would wear fancy duds like that. But, I've never been on the fire plane before either. Could be connected."
“Mm,” Aith nods. “Then again, believe it or not, I didn’t grow up in the shadow of a palace, and depending on the way the wind blows, Alkenstar can be … messy, even if you’re one of the lucky ones who can luck down on those of us Smokeside.”
“Nice to see someone making good and being tasteful about it. I can imagine a lot gaudier,” she rambles, as she gets a sense for the energies bound into the cane.
"Oh, interesting," she adds, as a thread of divination magic bounces back under her probing cantrip. It's a rod of alertness - handy to avoid being ambushed, and it can be used as a mace, in a pinch, but the really fun part is if you have a bunch of smallish things that you don't mind getting battered around a bit. Who wants to hold onto it?"[/b]
"Most people who aren't rich don't wear fancy stuff. I'm sure you could find some rich dwarf in Katapesh who doesn't look like coming fresh out of a mine."
While the others are examining the items in the room, Yasmeena sniffs around, trying to figure out where the odor is coming from.
She puts the valuables that no one wants to carry in the party's bag of holding and prepares to proceed.
To find where the stink comes from is easy. Just around the corner is a wide banquet hall contains ornate brass tables, chairs, and chandeliers—and a tremendous feast of rotting food and drink. The guests of this feast are four medium sized undead and a large creature who seems to be the host.
Peering around the corner on the flying carpet, Yasmeena performs her peacock dance and draws upon bardic magic to see what she can divine about these creatures.
Returning to the others, she casts message and whispers to them: "In the next room is a black jinni, which is immune to electricity and fire and has a shocking touch-- a significant jolt! If one of us were to recite the scriptures of Sarenrae to it, it might be destroyed immediately! The other creatures are four greater ghuls, undead creatures that were once jinn and still have power over the elements. They can heat their bodies to extraordinary temperatures and are like to attempt to grapple us. I don't think they saw me, for they were busy feasting. Shall we interrupt their banquet?"
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"Ewww. Undead."
Bylo hears Yasmeena's words and grins. He whispers back, "I've never heard of such a thing, but if a sermon for the Dawnflower would have such an effect I'd be happy to perform it!"
"Sounds good," Aith nods in turn, before adding, "and speaking of, we are all feeling virtuous, I'm sure? It won't be scripture, exactly, but I can provide something that should help, and unlike a fireball, we won't need to worry about getting caught up in it. I'll be right behind you!"
It's not the same thing as what a cleric would do, but she considers the lessons she's learned about the wonders of magic and all the natural world, and there's power to be tapped from that, and she gathers the words for that.
There is one little disadvantage, that Yasmeena mentions: The banquet is 150 feet away from the corner that you come from and there is nowhere to hide on that distance. This can be an adwantage for throwing long range magic, but for a melee charge it is a bit of a distance.
This wide banquet hall contains ornate brass tables, chairs, and chandeliers—and a tremendous feast of rotting food and drink. Massive windows provide a breathtaking view of the Sea of Fire that surrounds the City of Brass - if one had the time to appreciate that.
The Black Jinni is busy with a debauch of wine and food - all of which has been allowed to age to a point where it is sufficiently rotten. The black jinni is attended by four great ghuls who serve him food, massage him, and otherwise see to his needs.
The Black Jinni jumps up and shouts .
The dust from the floor starts to move in circles of ever stronger growing wind, until a proper tornado rages in the banquet room.