The Dwarf moves up and sees more crates and ways to move through the crates.
Thulgrun's first blow connects-- and the Gnome seems to be quite rocked by the hit, even if he still avoids the second attack.
Zatqualmish looks at the monk, is about to say something-- but then rubs his jaw, and, without a word, puts one hand into a little leather pouch, while waving his other hand in the air and--
--disappearing.
Leo wipes his eyes stops giggling... the joke was very funny, but, well, all good things come to an end.
Tanithil moves up and hears some feet shuffling, and maybe some shadows-- the Gnome remains Hidden to you, but you are sure he is still right in front of the Dwarven Monk.
Ironfist thinks he hears mumbling: "I prepare Invisibility, but I have not trained Stealth... ah, not smart!"
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Anri can think of an alternative way to "seek"...
She continues to cultivate her cold ball of energy, and running up, unleashes it into a final 15-foot conic burst, covering the spot she last saw the gnome, as well as the neighboring area.
(◆) Stride
(◆◆) Chilling Spray @ cold vs Basic Reflex, possible speed penalty
Area > 15-foot cone
A cone of icy shards bursts from your spread hands and coats the target in a layer of frost. You deal 2d4 cold damage to creatures in the area; they must each attempt a Reflex save.
Critical Success > The creature takes no damage.
Success > The creature takes half damage.
Failure > The creature takes full damage and takes a –5-foot status penalty to its Speeds for 2 rounds.
Critical Failure > The creature takes double damage and takes a –10-foot status penalty to its Speeds for 2 rounds.
Thulgrun mutters about being quiet-- and tries to see what is right in front of him.
But he cannot spot anything there.
As much as he tries--
--so he just sends a left-right jab into the where Tanithil called out the Gnome might still be.
No idea if there as something there-- until the second fist connects with some sort of flesh and bone and there is an Oomph!
But Thulgrun has no time to raise his shield.
Anri comes up and unleashes a cone of icy shards from her spread hands--
--frost coats the boxes and the floor... but in the flurry of snow, it is hard to see what exactly happened.
Valeros then moves up.
When Valeros moves in, you have the impression you hear a pitter-patter of feet starting in front of Ironfist, and moving away...
Having no solution to invisable people when she doesn;t know where they are, Kyra moves further in. ◆
Tries to find him. ◆
Then ◆
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Hearing the word 'invisible' said as his companions seemed to search for things, Leo says a quick word and sweeps his free hand across his eyes. Tiny blazing symbols flare to life in front of each eye as he walks purposefully forward. The symbols fade just as quickly as they appeared. When Leo rounds the corner of the crates, his eyes lock on the empty space where the gnome is assumed to be.
"Stop this silliness Zatqualmish. I can see you and will not allow you to get away," Leo says plainly, his expression a little impatient. He then walks around past his allies and the gnome to block the gnome's last visible escape route.
Kyra moves in, and spots her Gnomish quarry, by the chattering of his teeth, just to the East of her, and not really South--
--and she points out where he is.
Thus Leo is able to strut right up and look straight at the correct spot-- he sees Zatqualmish in.
The Gnome has ice crystals on his eyebrows, and is very bruised and battered.
Seeing himself caught and cornered-- he drops to his knees and lifts his joined hands in a gesture of begging for mercy: "No, do not kill poor, I am but a quill pusher! Have pity on--"
"
His eyes open wide as he looks at Leo--
--and then at all of the others: "PATHFINDERS! GLORIOUS! Oh, thank Brigh! I am SAVED!"
He gets up darts towards Ironfist: "Thank you for saving me!"
And bounces off of the Dwarf's immovable mountain stance as he obviously tried to move between Thulgrun's legs.
"Ouch!
Oh? Thulgrun! My friend, I did not see you! Nice you came to help me!"
Valeros hears the Gnome talking, bouncing off Ironfist, and shuffling his feet, thus the warrior knows where he is as Zaltqualmish tries to move through--
--and, as Valeros swings blind, his shield does connect, sadly for the Gnome, whose face takes the blow.
Crrrack, Zaltqualmish, who was barely standing, goes down-- for good.
A few of you are lightly wounded, amidst over a half a dozen brain-washed - and now brain-dead - corpses of men turned into technic zombies, and one dead Gnome whose body will reappear in some minutes...
Kyra does see a nose-dent in Valeros' shield.
"Not exactly but I did hear it."
Since he seems to be adjacent Kyra will cast Dispel Magic on the invisibility. (◆◆)
"Prepare yourselves."
She will then touch him and cast Heal. (◆)
Kyra never really will know what went wrong... did she not target the invisible Gnome (he WAS small), or did her spell just fizzle away...
But, when you scoop him up, the (poor?) Gnome is dead.
After looking around the other parts of warehouse, you see nothing elsewhere.
Except for an open door to the very south-west.
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"Let's leave him, as it's possible he was working as a cover for someone else, whom, he might have presumably been meeting in this very warehouse. If I'd venture a guess, I'd say it could be either Kevoth-Kul or Lady Altouna..."
"Through this door!" Anri spurns the party forward through the south-west door.
She casts Leo a "you okay?" look, too.
Anri leaves.
Tanithil follows Anri towards the exit-- hesitating as to what to do.
Leo leaves.
Kyra says a short prayer for the gnome.
"No idea when he will become visible. After we check that door we will have to decide if the authorities need to learn of this."
Kyra will follow Anri to the south-west door.
Anri and Leo leave.
Followed by Valeros and Thulgrun, who offer to take point.
While Tanithil follows towards the exit.
Having found nothing elsewhere in the warehouse, you go back out into the street.
Tanithil sees a bunch of recent foot prints exiting from the back door, where they soon get lost amidst all the tracks in the street.
No way to know where they went, or which way...
Tanithil finds a cart and a tarp, just inside the door to the warehouse, amidst some tools and such used to move things around.
Going back to get the body, you see the spell has now worn off.
The Gnome is dressed in now scorched fine clothing, has a dagger, what you can identify as minor healing potion, charred and burnt paper and parchment, ink, a piccolo, a shortbow and some arrows), thieves’ tools, melted wax and official seals - bearing the mark of the Pathfinder Society's Open Road Glyph, and a writing set...
Looking around this area more closely, Tanithil finds some half-burnt papers - hit by the fireballs - hastily shoved between some crates, probably from where Zatqualmish was working when you arrived.
Looking over the parts that are legible, you see these are the original documents, as well as forgeries.
The documents include a ledger of activities the Hajoth Hakados Lodge has undertaken in or near Numeria over the last two decades, with careful notes showing that the Pathfinders did not steal or damage any of the technological equipment they studied.
The documents are no longer in good condition, being singed, but they are still functional.
With no way to see exactly who left the warehouse - a Medusa? - nor where they went--
And after at least looking around the crates and finding nothing of interest--
--it is time to make your way back, hiding the Gnome's dead body under the canvas, while wheeling him back.
You manage to make it back to the lodge in time.
When you arrive, Vanis is relieved to see them: "What is your report? Please tell me you have something for me to save the meeting?"
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"Prior to him attacking us, he was hiding at a warehouse. As we approached, Zatqualmish was speaking with someone. I believe that individual may have been a medusa. We were unable to confirm this as the person slipped out while Zatqualmish attacked us. Have you heard of any of their kind being in the area?"
The Venture-captain nods darkly at Anro's news: "Thank you for helping keep this quiet... and thank you all for carrying out this sad mission. I thought he had just slipped off to buy some dessert or something.
But cowards are easy to blackmail-- unless it was something worse."
"A medusa? Oh?! Well, I do not know of any specific one being here-- they can hide among humans easily. But that means some crime syndicate is moving in here. That is good intel', and I shall get people looking into it-- would you be interested in helping me with this?"
The Venture-captain shakes her head while looking at Thulgrun: "Why do we ever talk to such creatures? I, for one, do-- sorry, my dating-life is of no interest here."
She seems relieved when Leo hands over a pile of burnt parchments.
"Oh, great! Wonderful, thank you!"
She leafs through the burnt pages, and collects even every piece of ashy-dust you give her.
"Luckily I read what he did every day, and remember most of all we had written down.
So... please go help prepare the finger-food, the guests will be arriving soon.
I will take an hour to remake the contracts... tomorrow we shall mourn Zatqualmish. At least death avoided judgment for treason, and will not bring a stain to his family name.
You did good, here--"
Varis hands out a strange cylinder to each of you.
--'tis an object from these lands. A polytool."
She also gives you a purse filled with gold coins to share amongst yourselves.