The Trollhound releases a deep bellow, amplified by the narrowing cavern. It rushes towards the promise of food, hunger raging in its eyes.
Onye's glaive leaves two deep cuts in its hide, while the splash from Tibitz' flask is enough to cauterize the wounds. Even the blood on the walls sizzles with rebellion to the caustic flood. Fueled by its pain, it sinks its fangs into Onye's thigh and throws him onto his back!
Onye feels his very blood begin to burn, but the sensation quickly fades...
******
Global Effects: Bless
Initiative:
Tibitz
Tsamara
Onye (-8, Prone)
Green (20pts slashing, 1pt acid)
Aurora
Bold may take first/second round actions! (Aurora's will be applied first, regardless of posting order)
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Ohh, we probably should've tried to lure this thing out into the open, Tsamara laments to herself as it becomes apparent that fighting in close quarters will be tricky.
Still, at least she can see what they're aiming for. She focuses hard on the ground just behind the trollhound, conjuring forth a ghostly chain that lashes out!
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With the end of Aurora's prayer the Trollhound recoils as though it had been struck across the face. Hunger gone from his eyes, replaced by a primal fear of that unnatural wobbly fish person!
As it flees, Onye manages to get another deep cut in, this time to the hound's flank, sending it to the floor. Tibitz tosses another vial and, although it crashes against the wall, the splash is enough to stop the beast from moving.
Tibitz saw this earlier, but anyone who moves a little deeper into the dark cavern notices that it starts to widen into two paths separated by a 20ft wall. Down the right most path, you can see all the way down to the edge of a dimly lit room.
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Wisely, Tsamara takes a peek around the corner while the others cautiously approach the light. Fortunately, all she finds is that the rank smell of a Trollhound's nest intensifies as she proceeds.
As you close in on the source of the light, you see what appears to be a study of some sort. Several desks are arranged along the northern and eastern edges of this small stone alcove. Whereas the stonework leading to this chamber is rough, the walls in the alcove are polished. A single gem rests among the neatly filed papers on the desk, emitting a soft luminescence that brightens the small room.
The gem has continual flame cast on it, just like the stone in the cavern before!
The handwriting on these pages is neat and precise, but not in Taldane.
Those are Azlanti letters! But... they aren't forming any words. Maybe it's written in some sort of code?
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"Oh! Someone cast Continual Flame on the gem," Tsamara points out. "It'll always shed light unless you cover it up. Though maybe a really strong darkness spell might cancel it out..."
She allows her thought to trail off as she steps forward and has a better look at the papers sitting out on the desk.
"Ooh, I think I remember this from class. They...look like letters from the Azlanti alphabet but they don't seem to form any words. That's weird!"
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"They either don't want it or they forgot it or they had to leave in a hurry and couldn't take it with them," Tsamara replies, running through all the scenarios that seem likely to her. "Well, maybe not that last one...see, look how neatly they stacked the papers. Not the sign of someone who left in a hurry."
She smiles. "But whatever the reason, it'd be a shame to let it just sit here and go to waste."
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"These things have been here a long time. This is a secret kept by a pathfinder who disappeared centuries ago. I don't know if that troll-dog has been here all that time - who knows how long they live? But we need to bring back what we've found, including those gibberish writings. Maybe we can study them further back at the lodge?"
Aurora gives the hound corpse a sniff, and decides it isn't something she wants to eat.
"I'm hungry. Those land-lobsters will be cooked by now. Let's get back to the Wisp!"
Leaving the Shrine of the Failed, you notice that people are now trickling away from the center of Absalom.
"What a shame! Guess Sir Reinhardt and Iomdeae won't fall in love after all."
"I thought he was a complete idiot! A horse with no wings? Not even little magical horseshoes?!"
"True, maybe he thought something magical was going to happen? There's a joke about the moral high-ground somewhere in there..."
"I can't believe we just watched someone so experienced in battle charge off a cliff to their death..."
Making your way back to the Grand Lodge, you deliver your findings to Drandle Dreng.
In his office Dreng is reclined in a chair at his desk, tossing silver pieces into a cup. Based on the roughly triangular pattern of coins forming on the opposite side, he's missed several shots. "Look, look, look! Ol' Ambrus was so peeved when I showed him my roster. HA! So many silver pieces, such little time!"
"What brings you back to my office? It's taken you quite a bit of time to return, but I can't imagine fins are awfully quick on land?" he asks, smirking at Aurora before taking a blind shot at the cup. The silver piece clinks rather satisfyingly as it joins its siblings.
With a round of free drinks for saving the bar and two platters of delectable Scorpion (the mild, slightly salty, and crunchy scorpion flesh soaked that garlic butter right up!) at your disposal, Heryn Gale raises a toast to you all. Certainly the start to a great night!
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Drandle's next shot goes wide when Tsamara brings up 'papers.' [smaller]"Maybe I should've just paid an urchin for the wine,"[/smaler] he says under his breath as he stands to take the papers. Flipping through a few, he gasps.
"OH MY! This is fascinating! I'm rusty on my historical Pathfinder codes, but these Azlanti letters are written in a dated cipher! It will take some time to piece it together, but I'm sure there are some interns laying around who can do it!" he admits. "Won a bet AND a promising find, my word, you lot have some serious potential as Agents!"
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Tibitz's goals are much less lofty than his comrades, "Master Dreng we do good Path-Venture? I know you needs more works done by smarty-findy types like us. We makes a good Path-Venture team, yes, yes. I know we could finds many rich objects and makes many golds. So, what is next Path-Venture for us?"