Meleeka immediately dismisses Vixnax's information. "That's simply a lie. No one in their right mind would think anything different.". She crosses her arms and looks Vixnax up and down.
"You, Vixnax, right? You need to prove yourself worth in order to learn the secrets of our order.". She starts pacing back and forth. "You will compete against my disciples during a series of three challenges. These challenges are called the Trial of Embers.". Her voice is commanding and everyone takes notice of her. She immediately holds up her hand to stop anyone from talking. "If you refuse, I will politely ask you to leave. If you agree and succeed, I will unveil all the secrets I have."
Meleeka's disciples are a notorious duo of bandits known as the Mudclaws.
Talm pokes his head around the corner. He immediately recognizes the two disciples.
"Not just you, Vixnax. All of your companions too must compete."
"Ah, another one. What a pleasure to meet you. And you are?"
Meleeka bows at Talm then at Avonathalanthalasa.
"Line up here." she says, pacing back and forth. The two disciples line up on the other side of her. "There will be three tests you must do. Only two of you may do each test. I would like to see all of you compete in at least one test.". She sizes up each of you.
"The tests are as follows: the Cinderpalm Strike, the Iron Talon Grip, and the Soaring-Ashes Style. If you have any questions about these tests, let me know."
"The first test is the Cinderpalm Strike. Talk among yourselves and elect two of you to complete it. Please do not take long to decide."
"First off is the Cinderpalm Strike, a fiery attack that adds explosive force to an unarmed strike. You must strike out at a cinderwisp," she motions to tiny manifestations of living fire floating near the burning coal, "and snatch a small everburning ember called its heartspark."
"Next is the Iron Talon Grip. This technique is used to maintain terrifying grips and hand holds during martial throws and grapple maneuvers. My ancestors would swing a statue to one side, tilting the bottom upward to slam it against the vertical face of a hanging gong as hard as they could. You will be attempting the same thing."
"And last is the Soaring-Ashes Style. This style is used in the Rain of Ember kata to allow a practitioner to harden themselves against elemental dangers while performing feats of athleticism.". She stops pacing and looks at each Pathfinder. "During this challenge, we will go into another room. You will leap from pillar to pillar while holding a small stone bowl in both hands, filled with a glowing, incendiary fluid. After you have moved to more pillars successfully than your competitor," she turns to her disciples so they hear it too, "you must use what remains in the bowl to light a torch held in a sconce in the wall."
"Each test must be completed three times. So chose which test you think will suit you best."
|
Talm listens to the tasks with obvious growing horror, and when the description is done he shakes his head and mutters to himself, "Just stay in the hall next time, idiot."
To his companions, he says, "I don't like the sound of any of that, but I think the fire punch and the bird grip sound like my best chances of actually helping."
|
Voron's scowl increases as the trials reveal themselves as more and more dangerous means of self-harm.
Are these tasks meant to entertain you? I'm not sure what one could accomplish with these besides grievous self-injury. That said... it seems interesting to observe the cinderwisp of the Cinderpalm Strike.
"No, these tests are cornerstone to our Temple. They help teach discipline and techniques we use every day. Once you select who will do each test, I will demonstrate."
"You ... and you." Meleeka points at Vixnax and Avonathalanthalasa. "Watch what I do. You will be doing the same thing.". She walks over to the coal pits. Small floating manifestations of living fire float around. Meleeka closes her eyes briefly, then immediately opens them and strikes at one of the wisps.
She opens her hands to show off the ember. It flickers slowly like a beating heart.
"Now you. Then you. Then my disciples will go.".
"We will complete this challenge three times. Whoever has the most wins will be declared the victor."
|
Vixnax looks attently at the flames jumping from one side to the other. He believes he has found a pattern and inhales with eyes closed. The kobold then opens his eyes and his palm goes like lightning towards the ember!
He opens his hand to find an ember pulsing with light. "Hah! Not that difficult after all."
Vixnax closes his eyes and lunges out at one. Easy! Avonathalanthalasa watches the patterns of the cinderwisps. They are fairly simple creatures so she can track their movement no problem. Before she knows, one is in her hand.
The disciples look at Vixnax then at Avonathalanthalasa then at Meleeka. "Okay, let's do this." says the gruff Yute.
The female, Uskrani, looks more serious as she attempts.
Yute trips up as he's trying to show off to Uskrani. Instead of grabbing one of the cinderwisps, he overshoots, stumbles, and punches himself in the stomach. In his fumble, he accidentally inhales some fumes from the cinderwisps.
Uskrani simply rolls her eyes as she grabs one easily.
Avonathalanthalasa knows exactly how to track these cinderwisps. She simply reaches out and grabs one out of thin air.
Vixnax on the other hand isn't fast enough. The cinderwisps evade his strikes.
And both the disciples struggle to grasp the cinderwisps. Meleeka shouts, "What's wrong with you two! Do as I taught!"
|
|
Before he has a chance to focus after the failed task, a deep, gutural growl comes from deep within Vixnax. "I thought I HAD it!" he not quite screams, yet he cannot hide his anger. He breathes deeply and conjures one of his master's lessons in his head, calming down. Last one. Let's do this.
The kobold misses again and his eyes turn to pure rage. His scales begin to glow green and suddenly a torrent of acid goes flying from his mouth. He managed to turn to an otherwise empty section of the room, which starts to dissolve slightly.
He turns to Meleeka, the rage in his face completely gone. "My apologies! I'll make sure to aid in the repair of this mishap. I sincerely hope you can forgive my sudden bout of anger."
Meleeka is in awe as Avonathalanthalasa simply does the test one last time. "I've never seen it executed so perfectly. Do you have a secret you're not telling me?"
Yute, on the otherhand, seems to be a disappointment. "We're going to have a talk later, mister. We will have to train harder."
"Congrats, young one. You have bested my disciples at this test. However, the next test will not be so easy."
"The next test is the Soaring-Ashes style. Are you ready?"
"Follow me," Meleeka says as she walks into the northern room. The room has several 10-foot high pillars. Meleeka climbs on top of one then takes a small bowls and fills it with a glowing, incendiary fluid that resembles diluted alchemist's fire.
She jumps from pillar to pillar without dropping an ounce of fluid. Her two disciples clap in amazement, then look in horror upon realizing they have to do it too.
"Now you are up, little man," she points at Sumner.
Sumner doesn't have much luck. The ritual he used to perform at the temple of Iomedae was too long ago and the bard has forgotten a lot of it. In his nervousness, Sumner spills some liquid over his hands, eliciting minor burns.
Due to her success in the last test, Uskrani volunteers to go.
Uskrani, on the otherhand, has very little luck. She stumbles at first, then accidentally pours most of the contents of the bowl all over her. She yells in pain as she dumps more over her body.
Sumner is able to swiftly jump across the pillars, one by one. He only spills a tiny amount, suffering minor burns. Meleeka gives Sumner a golf clap. "Nice job. Looks like you've done this before."
Uskrani looks nervous as burns cover her body. She struggles to jump to the second pillar. She barely makes it, before nearly falling over, and dumping the rest of the bowl all over her. She screams in pain. "Meleeka. Get off. We'll tend to your wounds in a minute."
Uskrani comes down from the pillars and the group moves back in to the original room. "Are any of you healers? Can you bandage up Uskrani as I go fetch the item needed for the last task?"
Meleeka let's the Pathfinder take care of Uskrani (if they want to) while she takes the key off of the chain around her neck. She walks to the western door and unlocks it, then closing and locking the door behind her.
After about five minutes, she arrives back with a statue. Based on the description you recieved from Melipdra, this is the statue One-Who-Waits.
"Who's ready for the last test?"
|
|
Voron sighs and steps forward.
I believe this one is for me as well! What am I supposed to do? Hang onto this bell without my teeth falling out from the vibrations?
The wizard approaches it, and plants his staff firmly in the ground hoping that it provides a conduit for the vibrations to quickly exit to ground.
It starts very poorly, with his hand almost flying off of it at first, but he begins to bear it...
Meleeka watches the elf step forth and do the task. She takes a mental note and applauds at the end. "Impressive. Now you, half-orc."
Meleeka congratulates both Yute and Voron. "Congrats on winning. Also, Yute, good job. You'll be rewarded later tonight. Please be patient while I return the statue."
Meleeka takes the key off her necklace again and brings the statue back into the room to the east. Uskrani is still severely burnt. "Please can any of you do healing? None of us are trained in medicinal arts. These burns hurt so much.". It's obvious the woman is in pain.
About five minutes later, Meleeka returns. "For your reward, I present you the key. What you seek is in that room.". She points to the room she was just in.
Also, since Sumner won the Soaring-Ashes test, he can use a reaction to reduce up to 5 fire damage his is dealt from any one source to 0 as if he had fire resistance 5 once per adventure.
And since Voron won the Iron Talon challenge, he can use a reaction to reroll one failed Athletics check to Grapple or one failed check to Escape (this reward can be used for only one of these effects) once per adventure.
And since Avonathalanthalasa won the Cinderpalm Strike test, she can use an Interact action to crush the heartsparks she captured in her hand, granting an extra 1d6 fire damage to her next melee Strike.