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Rhu manages to find some ice picks behind the bar. Some are sized for small creatures and others are giant sized, but they are still better suited for hacking through the ice than any of the Pathfinder's weapons.
Therin lights up one of his torches and starts melting the ice. As the Pathfinders work their way through the ice, they suddenly hear a loud roar. The giant Bitterbite has risen, his wounds fully healed!
Round 1
Bitterbite -readying
Therin
Hskoro
Rhu
Grax
Hosser
Bitterbite moves forward, knocking aside a table as he advances. Then the creature brandishes both claws and lets out a mighty roar!
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Therin fires a blast of flame that strikes the behemoth right in the chest. The flames burn through the creature's skin as steam and smoke pour out of the wound. Rhu follows up by hitting the giant in the chest with another arrow. Hosser begins casting a spell and Grax and Hskoro close ground with him. As Grax moves into the reach of Bitterbite's arms, it lashes out with both of its clawed hands, but the half-orc's thick armor protects him from being rended apart.
With its foes in reach, the creature lets out a flurry of attacks on his foes, starting with Grax. Once again, none of the giant's natural attack manage to penetrate the iron skin of Grax's armor.
Round 2
Bitterbite - 20
Therin
Hskoro
Rhu
Grax
Hosser
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Bitterbite takes a swipe at Hosser as he draws near.
Grax then knocks the giant to the ground with an overhead smash, splitting the creature's skull. Theron further bashes the creature's head in.
The Pathfinders can see the creature's wounds rapidly healing, it's thick blue blood coagulating and reentering it's wounds as they scar and shut before their eyes. The burn mark left by Therin is also healing, but at a slower rate than the cuts and punctures made by the party's weaponry.
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Therin applies his alchemist's fire to the ugly giant's wounds and they begin to immediately sizzle. In fact, the flesh of the massive humanoid seems to be particularly flammable and the corpse quickly catches fire. Within a minute the massive body is a smoldering, steaming corpse and incapable of regenerating.
It only takes a little more work to break the ice enough to free the janni from the ice. (And to retrieve the magic necklace!) The woman is unconscious and her skin is ice cold, but amazingly she appears to still be alive!
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Ceru suggests, "I don't think it'd be a good idea to take her to a public place. There's still a lot of people out there who would like to collect that bounty."
The party escorts Jamila out of the freezing "tavern" and into a nearby ally that has a stone pit where the less fortunate residents of Port Eclipse have clearly set up a fire for cooking or warmth recently. As the Pathfinders escort Jamila, she murmurs, "Who are you? Where are you taking me?" but she is too weak from her recent unthawing to resist.
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Jamila calms when Rhu mentions Ashasar. "Huh. How about that? A lot can happen in a week I suppose." She smiles weakly. "I doubt that they sent you just to get me though. I'm guessing you're probably wondering about what happened to the Horn? Rest assured, Hshurha’s agents don't have their hands on it...yet."
The janni looks around the alley nervously. "It's not safe to be out in the open like this. I have safe house but we need to get there. I can stay hidden; but how good are you people at keeping a low profile?"
Ceru flits over and says, "You might be in trouble here. These guys stick out like...a bunch of outsiders dressed in clangy armor."
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Javon flies down to land near Jamilla. "Yes, unfortunately, we are hard to miss, especially on this plane. I could probably go with you, but if we run into any trouble, we would be in danger without Gerald." Hearing this Grax grunts and shakes his head, clear that he does not like that idea.
"By the way, what is this necklace that was in the ice too?"
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The party does the best it can to avoid attracting notice. They are unsure of whether they are successful or not. While moving through the streets, Jamila is able to use her innate magical abilities to turn invisible and leads the group to the safehouse without incident.
Unlike most of the buildings in Port Eclipse, the safe house happens to be a round cave burrowed into the cavern wall. Inside there are three unusual looking women guarding a non-descript door. The creatures have the upper torsos and faces of a female human but their waists and legs are segmented bodies similar to a large bee. Glass like insect wings hang down from their strong shoulders.
Jamila leans over and says, "The Vanished Triad. They are seers who monitor the comings and goings on Port Eclipse for our network." The thriae eye the adventurers suspiciously but then one of them gives the janni a polite nod and hands her a brass key.
Jamila leads the party through a shadowy inn and to a back room that the key she was given opens up. It is a dark but cozy room, filled with plump cushions and curtains that allow for a bit of privacy.
"I want to trust you. I really do. But first I need to get into contact with Ashara to confirm that we really are working together and to let him know that I am alive. In the meantime, feel free to relax. There is some tea in the samovar over there and hookah over there if you're so inclined. Somebody should be by with some food soon, I'd imagine."
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Jamila returns back to the room after about an hour's time. "Okay, I talked with Ashara and he confirmed that we working with the Pathfinder Society. At least for now."
She pours herself a cup of tea before continuing. "Ashara says that you should be up to the challenge of retrieving the Horn of the Hurricane,". I was able to pinpoint its location, but then I was caught before I could do anything to get it. It turns out that it centerpiece of the mast on some djinni noble's ship. That ship was recently destroyed in a storm and the wreckage ended up finding its way to a junkyard here in Port Eclipse."
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"I already worked out a deal with the owner of the junkyard. They're expecting someone from the Concordance to arrive and we have a password set up. It's just the word 'balance' in each of the four elemental tongues.
I'll teach it to you. The only thing you'll have to do is actually find the horn. The junkyard's a big place and the wreckage just got dumped somewhere."
"The owner is an awakened clockwork and all the employees there are constructs also. They're not the kind of person to go back on a deal, so you shouldn't run into any issues with them."
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"I'm not coming with you. Putting aside the fact that I am still recovering from the greatest physical and mental trauma I have ever experienced; I still have every bounty hunter, mercenary and low-life criminal in Port Eclipse looking for me. I would be more of a hindrance to you than helpful. In regards to sneaking over there, now that you're no longer traveling with me you should be fine getting over there. Just don't go out of your way to stand out and I'm sure you'll be fine."
Jamila teaches the party the four word password, making each of them rehearse it over and over again until she is satisfied with their pronunciation.
"Okay, I'm going to planeshift back to the Material Plane so that I can properly recover. It's a janni thing; I need to be somewhere that's touching all four elemental planes in order to fully heal and the Material Plane is the safest place that I know of. I'll find you tomorrow after you recover the Horn. Okay? Get a good night's rest and hopefully I see you all alive tomorrow."
There is a blast of wind, fire, sand and water as the janni fades away.
The next day the party travels to the Clockwork Junkyard. Pieces of airships are lashed to assorted metal pylons that float in the air at regular intervals. Smaller scraps are secured with cargo netting, or tethered like garbage kites, onto these pylons. Flying clockwork creatures resembling crabs with various construction appendages, maneuver around the area. Several humanoid clockworks mill about, picking up and maneuvering pieces too large for their smaller kin to handle.
As the party approaches a small clockwork creature dislodges itself from a mound of junk. The automaton is a humanoid clockwork designed to look like a halfling servant dressed in livery, but the paint on its brass surface has mostly chipped off. "G-g-g-g-g-g-greetings, travelers," it says in a tinny voice. ""What c-c-c-c-can I do for you, today?"