Shaine guides the Pathfinders to a large pile of dirt surrounding a hole in the ground. "I know, it's crude and not elegant, but we didn't really have time for subtlety," the Master of Scrolls explains. "Still don't, now that I think about it."
The tunnel opens into a massive chamber. Veins of strange metal line the walls, and enormous bronze devices connected to the walls by equally-massive cables spark and spew steam. Stagnant water collects at the bottom of a ten-foot-wide pool in the middle of the room. Almost obscured by the steam and sparks, a large vault door stands at the far end of the room, surrounded by a handful of figures crowding around a gasping, bleeding elf lying on the floor.
As Jamir bounces down the steps, sparks coalesce from the bronze devices to form a vaguely humanoid shape. It points at the newcomers, and a sizzle of thunder alerts the others.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue
Pai
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green (10 ft above floor)
Floria
Tsuan
Shaine
Yellow
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"The man on the floor looks like an aged version of Kreighton Shaine!"
"So it does! That is very disturbing, as is this creature made of captured lightning! But at least the people attacking Old Master Shaine appear to be fully stabbable!"
Once Myth fires his bow, Jamir adds, "Nice shooting, Mythryndyr!"
One of the men surrounding the fallen elf digs in his belt and pulls out a bottle. He grabs the cork with his teeth and pulls it out, spits it off to the side, then chugs the contents of the vial before tossing it to the side as well. Before the glass even hits the floor, he begins to swell and grow to gigantic proportions. Laughing, he steps towards the Pathfinders.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr - pending potential retcon
Blue (Enlarged)
Pai
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green (10 ft above floor)
Floria
Tsuan
Shaine
Yellow
It's... weird?
Mythryndyr's arrow hits the creature of lightening, but doesn't seem to find any vital organs to pierce. Pai does indeed find the massive man an easy target, her own lightning dancing across his armor and making his hair stand on end.
The sound of chanting fills the steamy air as another man pulls out a length of parchment. The promise of power grows...
...before bursting outwards in a wash of golden light, barely visible between the massive bronze devices.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue (-16, Enlarged)
Pai
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green (-9, 10 ft above floor)
Floria
Tsuan
Shaine
Yellow
As Jamir and Mattaius move into position, the lightning cloud likewise bursts into action. Moving as swiftly as lightning itself, it charges towards Pai...
...and wallops the gnome solidly across the chest, delivering a nasty shock similar to her own channeled lightning.
That's a lightning elemental, born from one of the massive storms that fill the endless sky of the Plane of Air. It's immune to electricity, being made of the substance itself, and it uses the innate attraction of electricity to metal to guide its blows against creatures wearing, wielding, or made of metal.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue (-16, Enlarged)
Pai (-10, 30 ft above floor)
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green (-9, 30 ft above floor)
Floria
Tsuan
Shaine
Yellow
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Floria moves down the stairs and into the room as quickly as she can.
She takes in the situation and watches as the elemental zaps Pai.
"A lightning elemental! It's immune to electricity Pai!"
In an effort to help Pai, she concentrates and tries to worm her thoughts into whatever this elemental has for a mind.
"Quite right you are, Floria!" Shaine adds from the bottom of the stairs, then winces and puts a hand to his head again. "Or, at least I think you're correct with your analysis. Blast these unexpected side effects!"
A ssssnnnnnnaaaaapppp like a miniature lightning bolt cracks through the air as Floria snaps the elemental's mind in two. The storm cloud holds itself together, but only barely. On the ground, Tsuan glances past the bronze structures to see the last Harbinger swell up in a similar fashion as his companion, likewise tossing a now-empty bottle to the ground where it shatters.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue (-16, Enlarged)
Pai (-10, 30 ft above floor)
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green (-25, 30 ft above floor)
Floria
Tsuan (3 images)
Shaine
Yellow (Enlarged)
The elemental can't take any more and bursts into a shower of sparks as Mythryndyr's arrow pierces it. On the ground below, the now-giant swordsman lumbers forward and swings at Jamir's minuscule form as if trying to crush a gnat...
...but the halfling easily ducks out of the way.
The Aetheric Reservoir
Round 2! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue (-16, Enlarged)
Pai (-10, 30 ft above floor)
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green
Floria
Tsuan (3 images)
Shaine
Yellow (Enlarged)
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As the elemental falls, Pai calls out a cocky "Thanks" without even looking for who fired the shot as she stretches out her arms to Gather Power. She stares down the over-sized fool before her as her petite form absorbs the elemental power. Once full to bursting with energy, she releases in a torrent at her previous target .
The giant man howls in pain as electricity overwhelms his nerves and fries his brain before collapsing to the ground in a pile of smoking limbs. The small(er) man looks back at the sound, then steps nervously behind one of the massive bronze structures. A second later, a glowing orange vial comes hurtling around the corner towards Mattaius...
...but the thrower puts waaaaaaaaaay too much effort into his arm and the bottle shatters against the wall behind the priest harmlessly.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue
Pai (-10, 30 ft above floor)
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green
Floria
Tsuan (3 images)
Shaine
Yellow (Enlarged)
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|
Continuing to run forward, Mattaius gets a clear shot on one of the enemy and hurls his starknife toward them.
Melee Attack: BaB (+4), Dex (+5), Weapon Enhancement (+1), Weapon Focus (+1).
Damage: Dex (+5), Weapon Enhancement (+1), Martial Focus (+1), Weapon of Awe (+2).
Weapon of Awe: 1/36 rounds (6 minutes)
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Floria approaches the melee, both hands full with her psychic implements.
She sees that her allies appear to be handing things very well, so she aims to mainly to help them avoid harm.
She tilts her head downwards and stares at the big fellow, thinking at him hard.
Attack your ally. Attack your ally
As Tsuan darts closer, the remaining giant chops down furiously at her...
...but doesn't even manage to destroy one of the ninja's shadowy copies. A cry of pain fills the air as the smaller man clutches his side and glares at the starknife coated with his blood.
The large man shakes his head at Floria's unnatural idea and instead attacks the pesky ninja again!
Whether by sheer luck or the dictates of fate, his massive blade veers unerringly through the false images to connect solidly with Tsuan's side. he laughs loudly.
Round 3! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue
Pai (-10, 30 ft above floor)
Red (-18)
Jamir
Mattaius
Green
Floria
Tsuan (-15, 3 images)
Shaine
Yellow (Enlarged)
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|
"Well done, friend Pai! But couldn't you have gotten him to fall a little closer to the wall, so that I would not have to go around him?"
With a short giggle, Pai replies: "Hehe! Sorry Jamir! Lightening doesn't push well, though." She soars past the bronze view-blockers to gain a better shot at the foes behind them in time to see the big dude slice Tsuan. "Aww heck no!" He's about to get a face full of lightening.
Well, maybe she's a bit too cocky.
Mythryndyr's arrow sends the smaller man to the ground, leaving only the enlarged axeman to laugh as Pai's lightning gets snarled around her finger and jumps towards the bronze structure beneath her rather than him.
Round 3! Bold may act!
Mythryndyr
Blue
Pai (-10, 30 ft above floor)
Red
Jamir
Mattaius
Green
Floria
Tsuan (-15, 3 images)
Shaine
Yellow (Enlarged)
The massive man swings at Jamir, but misses him entirely. Quick on his feet, the halfling circles around and stabs the man in the foot with his blade. He howls in pain, the sound growing as Tsuan cuts him from behind. But the giant remains upright, righteous fury in his eyes even though he sways unsteadily on his feet. But as Tsuan's second wakizashi pierces his side, even his unyielding grip on consciousness slips before he falls to the ground dead.
“Good show, Pathfinders,” the injured form of Kreighton Shaine on the floor manages between blood-soaked coughs. “But Lady Arodeth is a true savant and driven to fanatical extremes. The same energies that infected her casters above have also seized her soul, and I fear she has already killed several of your fellow chroniclers. Or will have killed them. Blast, but this is confusing.”
"Indeed," Shaine mutters from the stairway.
Shaine props himself up to continue speaking. “However noble her goals may have been, if Lady Arodeth forces us to remain in this time, we will all die. If the Sky Key is still functional, you must reactivate it before the Starstone arrives.”
The machines in this chamber begin to spark and smoke, and female bodies take shape from the green miasma.
Shaine continues, “She has learned to create temporal copies of, as I have. She can produce an army, left unchecked. Some teams will need to hold the line here, in this chamber, so that anyone confronting the true Lady Arodeth in the room beyond isn’t overwhelmed by these simulacra. You know your team’s capabilities better than I, but I promise you Lady Arodeth will be not yield easily.”
With that, the chorus of murky green figures announce, “I would have brought destiny back to this world.”
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Still flying at ceiling height, Pai draws and chugs a couple of potions to heal herself up.
[dice=Mattaius]"Shall we confront Lady Arodeth, that seems the quickest way to get us back t our own time."
"Heck yeah. Let's do this." Pai cracks her knuckles as she pins the doorway to the next area (presumably leading to Lady Arodeth) with a steely glare.
Jamir pushes through the first door to reveal a narrow hallway, with a second door at the end. As the other Pathfinders funnel in behind him, the halfling opens the second door to reveal heavy walls and strange panels decorating the sides of this large room, all focused on the strange orrery in its center. Raised on a small dais, and spearated from the rest of the room by a wide trench, the device oozes a thick, emerald light. The air smells of ozone, like standing amid a roaring thunderstorm.
Behind the orrery, a woman stands with a guarded expression and her quarterstaff held ready. "Pathfinders," she declares in the same voice that echoed outside the vault, "who do you think you are to stand in the way of Lord Aroden's return? There is no reason to live if there is no reason or fate to guide us." As Jamir tries to take a step into the room, she raises her staff threateningly. "Not a step further! You may have been peaceful with Alrule and Binui, but I still do not trust you to act with honor."
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|
Floria cocks her head at the woman's peculiar logic.
"On the contrary Lady Arodeth, our ability to shape our fate is what makes life worth living. Now put the ancient machine down dear before you hurt yourself or the timeline."
She's not trying to antagonize her, but she can't help but be a bit stunned at the combination of genius and stupidity. She'd like to look around if possible and deduce what she can about the nature of what Lady Arodeth has been doing.
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Flying over the party's heads, Pai stops above Jamir and too his left, peering through the doorway. [smaller]"Whoooaaa..." Oooh! Distraction tactic! Pai puts on her disarmingly curious face. "Hey Lady Arodeth, by the way: What's that thingy with all the planets and whatnot called? I've seen things like it before, but I've never known their name. Anyhoo, there's something unusual about that one. I mean, besides the green glowing situation."
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"Will you destroy the world on the off-chance that you can single-handedly change Aroden's fate? I would be lying if I said the future was perfect, but you would be laying waste to an entire world. Come, let us not spend our lives trying to change the past, but rather to change the future - for the better!"
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|
Jamir stays reluctantly in place, balancing on one foot, the other hovering inches above the floor just inside the room.
"Lady, think about what you are suggesting - would you destroy ten millennia of history - and the millions of people who would be born and live and love and fight and die in that time - so that the pictures in your crystal ball will be a little clearer? The death of the Last Azlanti and the end of true prophecy has led to much bloodshed, true, but the blood was shed by people for their own venal ends. I enjoy the freedom to choose my own path and cannot condone any act that would take that freedom away from me or from anyone else."
He wiggles his raised foot and smiles at the fanatic. "So step away from the Sky Key, Lady, and let us all return to where - to when - we belong."
A: 1
F: 1
"Lies!" Lady Arodeth spits back at Floria, but the response feels more instinctual than intentional. "The Book of One Thousand Whispers shows us the best route forward, to minimize suffering and find the most optimal solution to our problems. Everyone trying to make their own fate is perhaps even what tore the skein of prophecy in the first place!" But her face softens slightly as she considers the noble's words.
That softness does not last long though as Pai floats forward. "You will stay where you are," she growls, pointing her staff at the gnome, "or I will be forced to, as you say, take my fate into my own hands."
Tusan and Jamir try to smooth things over, speaking slowly and calmly. Slowly, Lady Arodeth lowers her staff - though she still holds it ready. "You don't understand," she answers at last. "The world is destroyed, yes, but it is reborn as well. Without Earthfall, there is no Aroden. With no Aroden, there is no..." Her voice trails off uncertainly, but her eyes remain hard as she watches the Pathfinders in the doorway.
"Is it just me, or does she seem a bit lost?" Kreighton Shaine asks in a whisper from the rear. "Probably just me - blast this temporal confusion - but maybe you could try rekindling her sense of duty? Or even just remind her there's other stuff to live for besides prophecy?"
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Jamir blinks at Tsuan's sudden outburst, then tries to roll with the change of tactics.
"Now Tsuan, my friend, of course the Lady understands the powers she has gathered to her command! The God of Man may no longer grant divine magic to his priests, but I am sure the knowledge she has gained from his other teachings is nearly as powerful. Although I can only imagine the effort it must cost to maintain control of the Sky Key for so long. Lady Arodeth, I admire your strength, but do you not tire of the strain?"
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I should keep my mouth shut. But it's not like I could make things any worse. Dithering, Pai finally decides to try, uh, saying something.
"Look, I know we're being all fumble-tongued right now, but seriously, we've studied the starstone way more than you 'cause we've had more time, and there's literally no way for you to be successful here. I mean, it'll be close and all, but it won't work. You'll die. And you'll be murdering all of us. Pointlessly."
"No!" Lady Arodeth yells back, "you are! You... selfish children, playing with powers you don't understand!" Her face continues to clench in frustration as Jamir speaks, until she can take it no more. she bellows, voice echoing off the walls like thunder. "You are all fools! All I wanted was a world that made sense. If you fight against that, then all of you must die!"
The woman slams her staff into the ground, speaking an arcane word. In an instant, a transparent wall springs up across the doorway in front of Jamir and Pai.
That's a wall of force, a spell only the most capable Pathfinders can cast.
You're not sure what spell that was, but it certainly seemed powerful - more powerful than any magic you can muster.
"Um, maybe discretion is the better part of valor here?" Kreighton Shaine asks rhetorically.
Round 1! Bold may act!
Tsuan
Floria
Pai
Mythryndyr
Jamir
Mattaius
Lady Arodeth
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"RRRRGH! All right, fine! Let's go hold down the fort with those green ghosty guardians where we just were." Pai pointedly thinks a rather nasty term at the crazy lady, then soars back to the room from whence they came, ready to battle some whosywhatsits that probably won't take "No" for an answer, either.
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Jamir hops back just as Lady Arodeth strikes the floor with her staff, narrowly avoiding something unpleasant happening to his foot.
"Discretion? But Master Shaine, once we defeat this villain, bards should sing songs of our victory across the land! We ... oh, I see. That is disappointing, but if we are prevented from engaging with our adversary directly, her pallid copies will have to do! Let's go, Pathfinders!"
Jamir runs back up the hall into the machine chamber...
The Pathfinders retreat, shutting the door behind them. Green smoke coalesces into semblances of Lady Arodeth, each raising their staffs and speaking in a ghostly chorus. "I would have brought destiny back to this world."
Round 1! Bold may act!
Tsuan
Floria
Pai
Mythryndyr
Jamir
Mattaius
Red
Blue
Yellow