Since Alainn can't pick out exactly which of the numerous conspirators it wants, they resort to the simple solution - cook them all!
Teeth gritted against the pain, Lydia activates bane on her blade and continues to attack.
Sercha sees the shadows for what they are; shadows. And shadows are where the fetchling feels most at home.
She moves around to the other side of the puppeteer himself and slashes at him with her summoned blade.
Balimar: -
Balio 61 (puppet)
The rain continues to buffet you, but Sercha realises it is just a vision. Ghost-like conspirators dart around you. Both Balimar and Balio leap away from the fireball just in time, getting scorched in the process.
Lydia slashes at the puppeteer but instead hits the ghost-like figure of the Night Peddlar as Balimar dashes behind it just in time.
Sercha steps up to aid Lydia and attacks the puppeteer. As her second slash strikes, the puppeteer vanishes.
"My partner!" The puppet screeches, its wooden mouth clacking furiously open and closed, still able to talk without its master. The vision around you stops, the rain calms and the theatre re-appears.
"Stop! Stop! I will write you a new play! Your own play!" It calls, holding up his wooden arms. It looks as if they are still being held up by strings, but there is no one there to hold them.
Just as the puppet calls for surrender, a beautiful Varisian woman, walks dramatically onto the stage.
Just as you all notice her, Sercha is swarmed from behind by four reptilian looking peacocks that appear suddenly behind when they attack.
The Varisian woman laughs with joy and then starts casting.
Easily resisting the enchantment, Lydia steps up to help Sercha with the peacocks.
"Crickey!" Alainn quips from above. "So many choices!" A spell of haste impels Lydia and Sercha to faster action while Alainn riffles through the Harrow deck with enhanced speed before producing the Peacock card!
"I've never seen ..."
"... peacocks ..."
"... like this."
Balio dashes out of the way whilst you are all distracted by Eliara's pets.
As Sercha swipes at the cockatrices, one flies landing crumpled on the ground and another squawks with pain.
Lydia, rushes in to aid Sercha and dispatches of another reptilian peacock.
The remaining two peacocks continue to peck Sercha but don't make it through her chain shirt.
Bite 1: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11+1 = 24
Bite 2: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11+1 = 14
Bite 1 (haste): 1d20 + 11+ 1 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24
Bite 2 (haste): 1d20 + 11 + 1⇒ (3) + 11 = 14
The woman's body on the stage twists and contorts until it settles on a new form; her legs have shifted into a snake's tail. Casting, you see many versions of her appear around her making it hard to focus on her form. She speedily dashes across the stage towards you, making it to the top of the steps.
Eliara 102
Blue
Yellow 7/30
37hp each AC19
"Take out the peacocks! I've got The Liar," Lydia shouts. The inquisitor casts a spell to remove the mirror images before striding closer to the snake-woman.
Alainn, unable to use any of its most offensive magic with its allies surrounded, starts pulling cards out of the deck as fast as possible. First The Liar and then the Betrayal.
Sercha grunts an acknowledgement as she slashes at the peacocks.
The multiple images of Eliara pop out of existence, making it much easier to focus on her again.
As Sercha dispatches of the reptilian peacocks with ease, Eliara rages loudly at the death of her pets, she pulls two scimitars from the wall next to the stairs as she moves to intercept Lydia.
"How are you doing, Lydia?!" Sercha calls out as she continues to tackle the threat of the vicious peacocks.
Alainn swoops across the auditorium to target Eliara with beams of fire!
As soon as Sercha dispatches with the remaining peacocks, she rushes over to aid Lydia with the remaining Lamia, deeply slashing her torso as she gets scorched from Alain's bolts of fire.
38/102
Though her mind gets a little fuzzy, Lydia strikes to finish off the lamia!
The lamia's body disperses into the air as story-kin do, her scimitars, headband and clothing clatters to the ground.
"My...my lead actress! Not only have you come in here unwilling to audition or speak nicely, you have now killed the star of the show! I will not write a play for you now!" says the marionette, indignantly.
"You can take her brilliant swords with you as you go, we have no need for them now. I suppose you want this too." As soon as he says the word brilliant, the two scimitars transform into two rose bouquets.
He throws something on the ground that he had been clutching in his fist and storms off through the doors. A brilliant diamond lies on the floor where he was standing.
Sercha dismisses her blade and touches the painful red lines that trace up her forearms. She shakes her head.
'Simply the cost for victory.'
She reaches down and picks up the diamond, turning it over in her hand to examine it assuming that it's the last token.
Her lips quirk up into a smile. "I bet you would look really good in that," she says, gesturing at the corset.
"I'm not sure its my color." Alainn says, descending with a grin. "I like the pretty flower swords though!"
With a stage whisper the gathlain leans in to Sercha. "Hold onto it and get Lydia to model it for you later" If the final word held any more meaning it would collapse under the weight.
"So that's all the tokens right?" Alainn concludes, switching topics with dizzying speed. "So what now? Does the wandering keep just appear in front of us?"
Lydia is also badly wounded, but she uses her magic and her wand to heal herself and Sercha.
The half elf blushes so she looks at the corset. ”Oh, uh... That is certainly a statement garment, isn’t it?”
For once, Lydia is grateful for Alainn’s interjection. ”Right. At any rate, we ought to rest so that we are at full strength before tackling the keep.”
Looking at all of the tokens whilst resting, you realise you have collected: a garnet and gold pendant from Bernaditi, a tiny shoe carved from feldspar from Brambleson, The Bard's Heart (a ruby) from Mourning Choir/Barrow King, a diamond from Marzalee, a solid Onyx black nib on a quill from the Mute Hag, a diamond from Balio and Balimar, a brass and quartz lens from Tick-Tock and a massive emerald on a necklace from the Nightpeddlar.
As soon as you collect them all together in one of the collection boxes you find at the theatre, they all start pulling towards the edge of the box in the direction of the desert.
The next morning, after strapping her armor back on, she gestures towards the tokens in the box. "It seems we have our course. Let's set out and complete our mission."
The familiar parched earth and featureless dunes stretch as far as the eye can see, blurring with the sky and obscuring the horizon. The desert does feel a little different now as the sand has lost much of its golden yellow and is now bleached and greying.
The tokens, jangling in their box are pulling you further and deeper into the desert.
After an hour of trudging through the sand, a new sight rises before you that you could not see previously.
An unsettlingly yet regal fusion of masonry and mechanics, this citadel of white stone and gleaming bronze stands proudly amid the dunes.
The Striding Fortress stands 60 feet above the ground on two massive metal legs. When you get closer, you can see only one entrance, the main gate, but the platform in front of it is 60ft above the ground.
As the Keep comes in sight, Lydia casts heroism on herself and Sercha. "Alainn, can you fly around and see if there are any easy ways up there? Without magic, I fear Sercha and I are going to have to climb."
"I thought of that." Alainn replies with a grin. "Sercha already has hers but this is for you."
The gathlain hands over a potion of Fly to Lydia, before leaping into the sky.
With a nod of thanks, Lydia drinks the potion. She casts shield of faith on herself and Sercha before soaring up after Alainn!
Soaring up to the platform in front you, the large wooden doors stand ajar as you land.
All of a sudden, the fortress sways wildly under your feet, and after a second gaining your balance, you realise it has stood up and begun to walk with massive strides.
The doors start swinging and creaking with each stride the fortress takes.
You can get a glimpse of the room in front of you each time the doors swing your way and you can see what looks like a courtyard, with a ceiling painted as a calm blue sky. Brilliant banners of a splendid variety of colors flutter in this picturesque courtyard of white flagstones and carefully tended gardens.
You can also catch a glimpse of a few figures standing in a line to attention, clearly paying full attention to someone you cannot get a clear view of.
"Let's try a stealthy approach. Alainn, please make us invisible." Once that is done, the inquisitor begins to quietly creep ahead.
Sercha follows behind Lydia as they steal forward. She keeps one hand on the inquisitor's back to keep track of where her partner is. At least that's what she tells herself.
With her chainmail and steel shield, though, how successful she is at the attempt at stealth leaves much to be desired.
Alainn provides spells for the not-sneaky people. (AKA everyone).
The two Invisible Heroes and the Trustworthy Sidekick walk carefully through the gate, timing it so they make it through between the fortress' strides.
Inside the 'courtyard' with manicured gardens and buzzing insects, you see a comically small drill sergeant walking up and down his wonky line of 4 ogre fighters.
"You sorry bunch of volunteers have made an excellent choice joining our second-to-none guard. I will train you to the best of my ability and you will become smartly disciplined, physically fit and the best trained Guards of the Striding Fortress."
There are doorways to the east and west of the courtyard, as well as a large double door to the north, all are closed.
With silent prodding on Lydia's back, Sercha gestures towards the western doorway.
Lydia follows the prodding to the west door.
Alainn realises that there is a slight problem in that it cannot see its allies... but luckily all the doors are closed, so just wait until they pick one and then it can follow them in! Perfect!
Lydia opens the heavy wooden door, with Sercha carefully watching the guard behind them. The iron hinges creak loudly when they open, but the miniature drill sergeant merely glances over and continues drilling his new recruits, as if its normal for that door to open at any point.
Alainn flies over as soon as she sees the door move and makes it just in time as Lydia and Sercha close it behind them, drowning out the sounds of everything in the courtyard.
The first thing that hits you in this room is the stench of flesh, blood and gore.
Oversized vats, racks, hearths, and an assortment of cutting tools suggest grim activities in this dark, reeking chamber. The floor recesses nearly a foot toward the centre of the room, into a drain blocked with clay.
"Who's there?" says a smouldering figure floating at the centre of the room above some suspicious iron tools.
There are two figures in this room that have turned to look at the door. One, a male muscular giant with crimson skin, smouldering eyes, and small black horns. Smoke rises in curls from its flesh. The other, a female hairless figure with blue-green skin, deep blue eyes, flamboyant eyebrows, and pearlescent teeth.
"Esserol, did you not close the door again - you cant keep doing that or you'll let in those idiots out there." He continues in a confrontational tone.
The woman "It wasn't me you old fool." She says, squinting at the door and begins to cast.
Though unsure what spell she is casting, Lydia tugs Sercha's hand and tries to sneak out of the female genie's line of sight.
With no idea what's going on Alainn starts looking through the Harrow deck. When the woman's eyes focus on them the gathlain waves. "Hey, congratulations. Have you been married long? I'm not sure this is the kind of place I'd go for as a honeymoon but to each their own. Are you guys friends with Zassiron? Is there a baby on the way? What element would a baby between you two be? Can you have a steam baby? I bet that would be awful to try and keep in a crib!"
Esserol's gaze focuses on Alainn as her spell completes, and she quickly looks around the room whilst listening to it's babbling, noticing Lydia and Sercha trying to sneak out of sight with nothing to hide behind.
The crimson-skinned floating man looks surprised to hear a voice pop up out of thin air.
"What are you going on about creature? Agrasug, have you been blabbing about having kids to others again? Haven't I told you already, no kids!" Esserol basically hisses out the final sentence.
Agrasug shrugs his shoulders "Well at least we have a new plaything now darling. Tell me where it is and we can have some fun?"
"That's disappointing." Alainn says. "Why do marriages always end in violence? You should try seeing a councilor."
Esserol shatters a copper pipe that she is next to as water gushes thick and fast into the room.
The rushing water knocks into everyone's legs but everyone braces, able to keep upright.
"Its by the left of the door! Don't you dare miss!"
Agrasug takes to the ceiling, and three flaming bolts shoot towards Alainn's direction.
Two flaming rays strike the wall behind, but the one catches Alainn in the chest.
Diploma-babble
Sercha summons her blade and races forward to strike at the water genie.
Lydia becomes visible as she pronounces a judgment and slices into the marid.
Agrasug lets out a deep gutteral sound from deep within.
"Don't you touch my wife!"
Three jets of fire zoom out from his hands and scorch Sercha.
He then rushes from his position and slams into Lydia with his shoulder.
42 marid
"You both need a time-out!" Alainn decides firmly, aiming a black ray at Agrasug!
Marid - 42
Agrasug 80
-3 on all ability checks, attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, Combat Maneuver Defense, saving throws, and skill checks. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed.
Esserol's eyes change into an angry vortex of water as she slams all of her might into Sercha, fighting fiercely to try to take her down before she gets a chance to act again.
Lydia activates bane as she continues to try to take out the marid.
Sercha screeches at the flames, but continues to assault the marid.