Rulean raises his shield, carefully maneuvers to flank with Snowy, and then swings his pick.
“You are weak, Cavnakosh! All you know is destruction.”
Fatal d10
crit, die increase, extra die for fatal
◈◈ Soothe
◇Lingering Performance
◈ Inspire Defense
Song renews the Inspire Defense and uses a second level spell to heal Clover!
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"Fork you!" Clover snarls in return, her wounds healing thanks to Song's quick action. The little halfling maintains her positioning as she strikes twice more with her weapon...
...and continues to call encouragement to her badger friend.
"Eat his kneecaps, Snowy!"
Encouraged by Clover's words, Snowy continues to do what he can to harry and harass their foe...
Ephie just barely dispels the xulgath's dark warding but it is enough.
The glowing aeon orb continues its inexorable but erratic orbit around the tower, making the shadows dance across the marble floor.
Leaf-on-Wind rapidly restores Nabi to consciousness and, with the aid of the magical gloves from the hermitage, nearly restores all of the harm done to her. Meanwhile, Rulean carefully moves into position but is too focused on avoiding the massive stone hammer to land a blow.
With his magical protection ripped away and Nabi awake to be a threat, Clover nearly drives her fork into Cavnakash's neck, but the xulgath cultist brings the haft of his hammer around to block it in the nick of time. Snowy makes an admirable effort to bite the xulgath's kneecaps off, but he cannot get a good enough grip to punch through the scales.
The Clash atop Erran’s Tower. Round 5.
Bold may act.
Nabi (40/44 hp) (immune, magic weapon: sword, prone, wounded 1)
Cavnakash (-74 hp; <50%)
Clover (58/58 hp) (immune, protection, magic weapon: fork)
>Snowy (32/40 hp) (sickened 1)
Ephie (40/40 hp) (immune)
>Mr. Splinters (15/15 hp)
Rulean (44/[44] 48 hp) (drained 1; sickened 1) (see invisible, protection)
Song-of-Air (22/38 hp)
Leaf-on-Wind (50/50 hp) (immune)
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Nabi picks her sword and rises to her feet, before stabbing the Xulgath's boss with full force
Gotcha!
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While Cavnakash is occupied defending himself from Clover and Snowy's assault, Nabi picks up her sword and stands. Before he can recognize the threat, Nabi drives her blade deep into the xulgath's back below the edge of his breastplate. Cavnakash's eyes go wide as his muscles stop obeying his will. "Thieves... Mānuṣa ēbaṁ tādēra--."
The xulgath zealot wobbles and falls to the ground as Nabi slides her blade free.
However, before you can fully register that the battle is over, you feel a sense of great pressure and notice that the shadows have stopped rotating. The aeon orb has stopped orbiting and is drawing closer to you. As it draws closer, you feel more and more like someone is holding you firmly but not cruelly in their hand while they examine every aspect of you.
Were there anyone to observe what happened, they would be able to tell you that your visions only lasted the blink of an eye, but for you the experience feels at least a few minutes. Each of you find yourself alone and unable to move in a wild place full of plants and other living things. Something moves through the vegetation, and a doppelganger of you but more primal, feral, and stronger emerges. Your doppelganger approaches you, sniffs you, and then reaches out to touch your heart.
Your individual visions end, and you find yourselves precisely where you were on the marble sunburst platform with the aeon orb drifting away from the tower and resuming its erratic orbit.
You regain double the normal number of Hit Points when resting (meaning you regain double your Constitution modifier multiplied by your level). The healing you gain from long-term rest is similarly doubled. In addition, you can focus this healing energy to accelerate your body’s natural healing processes even further.
Activate [two-actions] envision; Frequency once per day;
Effect You gain fast healing 3 for 1 minute. This amount of fast healing increases by 1 for every 2 levels you have beyond 5th level.
+1 striking maul
wand of heal (2nd)
scale mail
wooden religious symbol of Zevgavizeb.
You thought.. No, it seems you can't even talk correctly, probably cause my sword in imbedded in your lungs now, you thinked you killed me? You thinked bad! Did you heard me saying the final words of a circus performer: "That's all, folks!", after you hit me? I don't think so! Thats why you're dying, and I'm not!
Ephie hopes no one remembers his panic, and any discussion about 'fragments of souls" and the like. He tries to focus on the here and now. "Amazing! Did you see what I saw? An ancient orc — but dressed rather well and he held a primitive doll made of sticks and twine."
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“I saw an Iruxi, think it might have been an alternate version of myself if I had made different choices. Seemed more primal.”
Rulean pauses a moment, then says “I’m not sure how to interprete it, but pretty sure it was a vision.”
He then goes over and checks that Cavnakash is truly dead. “Given you made a deal with a demon, I doubt your soul will rest easy. Still, may you find your way to the boneyard and meet your judgement there.”
He will also inspect the dead dinosaur, see if he can determine why it couldn’t fly.
it was so odd, seeing myself strangely lacking some education. As if I took the "back to basic" part waaaaaaay too far. I don't know where it came from. Had a feeling we where underground sometimes, and somewhere totally else at other time. I was expecting a rabbit, but I didn't knew if I should be afraid of it or reassured.
"Did we all see shades of the same thing?" Clover asks, blinking rapidly as she looks around. "I saw myself...but it was like myself if I'd lived maybe thousands of years ago. Tougher, stronger, hardened by a life in the wild."
She closes her eyes and pictures it again in her mind. There's a slow exhalation of breath.
"It was...wonderful. I felt alive. Alive in a way I've never felt before..."
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"All I can say is that tengus rock the primitive look." Song strokes her beak.
Leaf-On-Wind is sobered and humbled by the vision, and if it's even possible gets more subdued than before.
He would like to quip like Song-Of-Air did, but... he doesn't have anything witty or wise or even noteworthy to add to everyone else's descriptions of their own experiences.
The acrobat-medic remains quiet for now.
The mystery of the aeon orb and why it is failing is beyond you. Given what you learned from Harlock's diary, the aeon orb has been failing since well before the Cavnakash or Balenni arrived, so they are not the cause. Examination of what remains on the platform suggests many, many failed attempts to capture or damage the aeon orb. One of the reptile's wings is badly bruised and that is likely why it could not fly well. Possibly it collided with the aeon orb during one or more of its master's failed attempts to destroy the orb.
However, you have rid this side of the island of its dangers to the Hermitage of Blessed Lightning--what little remains--and the town of Abberton. Both would likely appreciate being updated on what you have learned and done, and your circus is probably worried sick about you.
“Ephraim, is there any information you might be able to glean by examining the orb while we are here? If not, we should probably gather what we found and make our way out.”
Gesturing towards the bodies, he adds “Will want to build a pyre for the bodies. I wouldn’t want any of them to arise as undead.”
I would love to craft something like this! Imagine it floating atop a copper arcade machine!
Other than the knowledge you've gleaned from Harlock's diary, what you can infer from your very recent experience with the orb--including that it may have some sort of sentience or will--and that its behavior resembles an aeon stone, Ephie cannot discern anything new about the enigmatic, ancient artifact, its function, or its malfunctioning.
“So I guess we go to the Hermitage and then finally back to Abberton and our circus.”
"Yeah, sounds good to me," Clover agrees. "It's been days so everyone will be wondering about us."
Evidence of several pyres stand on the cliffs outside of the Hermitage of Blessed Lightning. Clearly the abbot has wasted no time tending to the remaining dead. Harlock greets you when you enter the hermitage. "My saviors and champions of right, welcome!" he says. His tone conveys that he is genuinely glad to see you, but his eyes are haggard and he has difficulty holding anyone's gaze for long, often looking down as he speaks with you. "Do you need to spend the night? The hermitage still bears too many signs of the corruption it endured, but I vow that it will be a holy place once again."
"Yes, please. We'd love an overnight rest, and then we can help you clean before returning to our circus."
"Spending the night would be good, and hey, keep your head up. It's easy when things are going bad to feel defeated. Life isn't just about wins and losses, but living well despite the losses and wins." Leaf-On-Wind offers to Harlock in an effort to encourage him.
"We've seen our share of both, but having fun and living well is what gets most of us through it."
Leaf-On-Wind will also offer to help out with any cleaning.
“I agree with my friends, we can help you clean tonight and then make our way back to town tomorrow. Where would you like us to start?”
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"You've already done so much," Abbot Harlock says. "But I won't turn down willing help. Tell me what's happened since you departed, though."
You share the story of your experience at Erran Tower. Harlock is concerned about the bizarre weather within the tower. He explains that this did not happen during his investigation of the tower and the aeon orb. He hypothesizes that it must have been a consequence of whatever the xulgaths or the succubus was doing there. Afterwards, he makes use of your willing aid to collect ruined objects that are beyond mundane repair and sort them into neat piles for later magical mending. Anyone capable of prestidigitation, he puts to work cleaning bloodstains out of sheets and clothing.
While he has cleaned the cannibalistic gore from the kitchen, the abbot feels it is defiled in a way that will take much more effort to make useable. He has foraged an assortment of berries and collected honeycombs. He has apparently fished during your absence and serves you white fish roasted over a fire pit outside.
Your time there is solemn but ultimately restful. There is catharsis in cleaning and restoring the hermitage after your battles within and beyond. You rest and leave feeling more energized than you have in some time . You have no answers for the island and its failing ecosystem, but what could be expected of circus performers turned demon-slayers.
Your hike back to Abberton is peaceful and less urgent than your past departures. When you arrive on the morning, you can find Jae Abber, the mayor easily enough. He is delighted to see you safe and whole.
Rulean assures the mayor that Harlock is alright, but then tells him of the problems at the abbey. It will takes quite some time to restore it.
He avoids talking about the tower, instead focusing on the battles with the xulgath and demons. He does warn of the succubus responsible for a lot of the chaos.
He also asks what the town will do about the sheriff, hoping that the mayor had an idea of whom can replace him.
"That's an excellent question," Jae responds to Rulean. "She'll be hard to replace. With the rate people are abandoning this place--these recent troubles certainly won't help to keep folk--may be able to squeak by without one while I think about that."
He lets you know that things have been far more tranquil since you dealt with Nemmia and the chaos she put in motion before her demise. He reminds you that the town was declining before any of this happened. He muses hopefully that everything waxes and wanes, and the region should become fertile again. Rulean avoids disabusing him of his hopes.
"We've still got that woman and her lion in the jail," he says. "Did you want to do anything about her? Nellyn can hold a trial, but we don't have much in the way of punishment except banishment or imprisonment. Not that we can afford to feed a prisoner for too long before letting them go."
Rulean looks to the others as he says “I would suggest banishment, but want to hear what my companions think.”
Set free the first one who finishes to eat the other.
Rulean frowns when Nabi makes her suggestion. “Please, after what we’ve seen I don’t even want to joke about such things!”
Mr. Splinters nods enthusiastically at Nabi's suggestion.
Ephie muses. "How much of a punishment is banishment, with Absalom a skip away?"
“Almost none. They have had to stay in the jail cell for about a week now. Still not much of a punishment, but it seems the best option we have.”
Mayor Abber grins wanly and chuckles nervously at what he hopes is a joke. "If they never bother the community again, banishment serves its purpose."
"Yeah, I think that's really all we can do," Clover agrees. "It sure won't endear her to us but I think that bridge was already burned before any of us ever came to Abberton. All this mess was just, I dunno, like pissing on the ashes for good measure."
Song whistles while she works, and then as an experiment makes a fan out of some of her feathers, and blows fresh air into the monastery.
Her eyes spring wide open. "Oh, that is so sweet!"
Once you finish informing the mayor of your adventure and the danger of the xulgaths roaming the untamed spaces on the island, you head back to the circus. True to her name, Tahala Roadwatcher, the Sideshow of Everyday Marvels' tattooed woman, is patrolling the path from the town. She waves at you once she catches sight of you, but breaks for the circus camp rather than approaching to join you. You quicken your pace.
Of course, once you get there, you can see that Tahala returned to report so that the circus could emerge in force to welcome you back. Performers, roustabouts, and crafts folk are gathering in a crowd by the time you arrive. The Professor makes his way through the crowd with a grin and wet eyes. "Welcome home," he whispers in his raspy voice. "I bet you have a story to tell."
After you have had a chance to reconnect and share what you wish to share with your circus family, the Professor gathers you back together in the center of the circle that the crowd forms. "We've all talked about it," he rasps. "What to do with Myron gone. It was unanimous. We would like you all to take charge of the circus' future. You've got more initiative and gumption than ten of us together." He looks toward Song-of-Air, who wears Myron's red cape, and says, "Obviously, someone needs to be the ringleader, but we trust all of you to make the big decisions for us."
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"It would be our honor!" Song twirls in Myron's cape. "It's good to be home. Let's get back to our true work, putting on an awesome show!"
"And I will make the best decisions for everyone, especially Mr. Splinters!" Oolong says, preening.
It would be nice to just put a show and bring a few smiles on the faces of the crowd, instead of risking soul and limbs in fights against monsters and demon worshippers...
Once you have settled down with your new responsibilities and taken a look at the books, you realize how much money it takes to keep a circus fed--elephants eat a lot--and equipment in tip-top shape. Your adventures the past week will serve as good fodder for stories to entertain, but it is time to get back to work.
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Ephie unveils a Penny Arcade machine based on their explorations of the tower. it's a large cross-section of the tower with intricately painted rooms and puppets within. A ball of foil with a Light spell cast upon it hangs above on a fishing wire, spun around and around on an axle. When circusgoers insert a silver coin cleverly hidden gears and cams whir and spin to make the little puppets judder and jerk about the terrain. A door flips open to reveal a room with frost-colored slivers of wood that tumble down like falling icicles, there are stairs on which a dummy falls down and breaks its neck, a demon dog that runs in circles and barks, and frightening reptilians that pop in and out of hidden doors to stab at hapless dummy adventurers.
He dresses Mr. Splinters in a sailor's outfit and places him on a pedestal where the giggles and dances to the fascinating horror of circusgoers.
Everything goes smoothly but on week 3 Mr. Splinters rebels and bites the nose an old farmer who got a little too close. However in week 4 word of the "bloody nose incident" only seems to attract more people.
At the end of the month, Ephie counts 147 silver pieces. "Well done Mr Splinters! We'll be rich in no time!"
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Mr. Splinters blinks his eyes at Ephie. "YES WE ARE. COME CLOSER EPHRIAM I WANT TO GIVE YOU A HUG."
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The next day, Ephie can be seen packing up the circus with a bloody bandage on his nose. He seems rather grumpy.
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Rulean spends most of his time mixing with the crowds. He gives away his animal sculptures to the kids that visit, taking requests as they come. As he creates them, he talks up the other acts to get people interested.
He is starting to run out of ideas for what to sculpt for the kids after a month of this, but changes up the act a little by teaming up with Elizia and Mr. Tickles — translating some of what Mr. Tickles says. There are a lot of questions about Mr. Tickles favorite foods that last week.
Nothing spectacular, but it is much better than battling demons.
9 sp
5 sp
3 sp
2 cp
2 sp
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Song develops a brand new Dance Routine, the dance of the Tengu Wind Fan, but in the first week she mistakenly set off a mini-hurricane that dropped a section of tent on members of the audience who en masse demanded their money back.
"What a disaster! What were you thinking? My children could have been killed!"
It was not until the next week that her weather dance went off without a hitch, and by that time the circus audience was already starting to dwindle. Still, she experimented with different moves, finally finding her new groove.
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Crit!
Mega Crit!
Nabi tries a new set of daring acrobatic moves. At first it seems she put her expectations too high.
Then she finds her groove and amazes even herself. The third week of performance shows her giving a dazzling display of acrobatics: the moves as quick, precise, the execution is sharp, and her natural banter is in full form, engaging the crowd reactions
Groovy.
It seems that, from now on, the word "Groovy" is one of her favorites. You soon have your ears full of it, everytime Nabi succeeds at something. Which is quite often.
Fortunatly (or not), the acrobat might have over-extended some muscles at her peak performance, but even limping a bit, she's able to meet some more reasonable expectations.
Leaf-On-Wind does the high wire for a few weeks, both because the chances for success are better and the chances of failure less-so.
It becomes quite clear that even with years on the wire and in the air that even the best can be too careless, as his first attempt to 'dance' across the wire ends in an abysmally bad plummet.
The shock and awe of a plummeting performer, however, draws more crowds for a couple of weeks, especially with the encouraging backstory about how he fell badly but is 'getting back to it' using some improvised wraps to make it look like he's been badly injured and still doing this.
That is until one of the wrappings gets caught *on* the wire and he has to dangle there for most of an act until someone else brave enough to come out can cut him loose. The horror drives most of his audience away.
The last week turns into a bet of how horribly he can manage to dangle which draws in the remaining drabs of the community.
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Clover spends much of her time showing off her wrestling moves by working together with Snowy and the other animals that call the circus home...
...and gets off to a competent start that only gets better as the weeks progress, before tapering back off as she realizes that even the smallest of the children are losing interest in her feats. But she doesn't mind - in fact, she's happy to *not* have a weapon in her hand for the first time in what feels like ages.
It ultimately becomes clear that Abberton cannot sustain your circus any longer. The time has come to move on to another venue. Ideally, a larger venue now that you have had time to hone your individual acts as well as improving the overall flow of the show. The prospects of moving on to a bigger audience reinvigorates the crew with excitement.
However, that excitement turns to anxious worry when you make the uncomfortable decision that the best place to head is Escadar on the other side of the island . Most of the crew and many of you have less than fond memories of Escadar. There you escaped Madame Dusklight's Celestial Menagerie. Rulean being proffered as a baby dragon for patrons to pet and hold is the least of the catfolk's corruption. While the roustabouts break down the tents and make the preparations for crossing the island, you hear others muttering stories about the Menagerie: the kidnappings, the mistreated animals, the use of magic and drugs to force compliance. You will not be able to afford passage off of the island if you do not find a larger audience, so it is inevitable that you will clash with your former "employer."
If the mystery of the xulgath is any interest to some of you, Escadar is also the location of the Moonstone Hall where masterminds behind Cavnakash's perplexing activities at the Tower of Erran supposedly reside.
The trek across the island is uneventful save the growing anxiety among the crew.
The sharp tang of salt permeates the air, and the gulls that swoop and cry overhead mark the city’s proximity to the sea. Grandiose buildings at the city’s center rise above sprawling markets and squalid tenements. Proud ships sail in and out of the harbor with the wind as laborers and travelers mill about the docks and quays.
The tide of humanity ebbs and flows throughout the port city. Hawkers pace the crooked streets and shout various offers to passersby. Fishmongers sing out the daily catch, traipsing in meandering paths through crowded markets. Armed guards in navy‑blue uniforms with bronze badges patrol the busy intersections, their eyes scanning the crowds. Dirty‑faced urchins dart underfoot, seeking dropped coins or untended purses.
Walking through the streets of Escadar is similar to peering through the pages of history, as newer projects are built practically on top of older buildings. Foundations millennia old support brand-new structures, the city growing proudly higher and higher.
Your first task is to obtain a plot of land to house the circus. Those of you who fled Escadar know that you will need to find a bureaucrat in licensing offices of the Conclave Square. The collection of blended architectural styles that houses the lesser council, city guard, and licensing offices was once used by priests of Aroden to handle the island's civic matters.
Song-of-Air quickly finds that you need to speak with a bureaucrat named Andera Paldreen. However, she will not be available for another four hours.
Close to the four hour mark, a brown-skinned, blond-haired human constable comes to fetch you. "The Circus of Wayward Wonders? My name is Darricus Stallit. I'm looking for the proprietors of the Circus of Wayward Wonders. I was given the name Song-of-Air, tengu, in a red cape. This is who I am looking for, yes?"