Finally able to stretch her legs, Kissan leaps forward- passed the other pathfinders. She turns the corner and rushes down the hall to the glowing outline.
Plus Grab
After Ignatius bullet hits the conjurer, Patrick makes the form of the wizard appear through his Faerie Fire!
Edmund and Kissan use this chance and an arrow in the chest and a bite into Daegros's abdomen is too much for the wizard!
He drops to the ground and is bleeding!
He leans against the wall, letting the storm clear in his mind.
"Was... was that it?" Shardra stammers. "Kissan is amazing." She slowly walks over to the jaguar and tries to pet her. Then she looks at the body of Daegros. "Poor guy. I pity him."
Crowe frowns, "Ten thousand years, stuck in this place..." He looks around miserably, "His death was a release." Then the big man points back at the golem, "Hers too."
He stares at the blood on the spikes of his earthbreaker, "I've done worse things to less-deserving people. I reckon most of us have."
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Ignatius searches the body of the slain wizard, ensuring that he is in fact deceased while setting aside anything that looks important or valuable for others to inspect.
"I don't think he would have done well in the outside world. The poor man seemed to be driven mad from the isolation. Its too bad how often things end this way, though."
Kissan keeps her guard, moving the air through her nostrils in a low huff and growl.
Crowe frowns, "Ten thousand years, stuck in this place..." He looks around miserably, "His death was a release." Then the big man points back at the golem, "Hers too."
He stares at the blood on the spikes of his earthbreaker, "I've done worse things to less-deserving people. I reckon most of us have."
Daegros is still breathing but is unconscious.
Maybe I should rethink some of my life choices before I end up like him Patrick said quietly.
You check the body and the items that the wizard carried.
You investigate the remaining rooms.
D20. VUZHON’S QUARTERS
This posh bedroom looks like it was recently ransacked. Numerous ancient books litter the floor, and piles of papers with arcane markings are spread haphazardly across the chamber.
The papers and books come from area D9, and largely concern consciousness transference and the magic jar spell.
The most impressive find still expects you.
D21. THE TIME LOCK
At the center of a darkened chamber, five floating crystalline shapes weave and rotate in eldritch patterns, casting blasts of colorful light into the deep shadows of the room’s many narrow niches.
powerful Azlanti magic bound these ioun stones into a complex geometric array that keeps the Sanctum sequestered from the regular flow of time.
Destroying the time lock requires the creation of a temporal paradox or simple brute force.
The array is immune to all forms of magic.
There are obscured lingering abjuration, illusion and transmutation effects in place.
Crowe mutters away about crystals with Patrick and, amazingly, it seems to help.
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That is the time lock array I saw in the scrying device he says composing of a set of aeon stones held in a magical lattice. One of the apprentices wanted it destroyed and the way to do that is to offer it a temporal paradox or just use brute force as it is immune to all kinds of magic.
And since we have Rozamus's Wayfinder from outside and presumably this Rozamus has his, then we have ourselves a paradox - how can the same Wayfinder exist in two different spatial locations.
Although we did see a vision that breaking the lattice had ..... disasterous consequences
"If we clear this place out, then a bunch of scribes can come in and copy alll of that library stuff, right? That seems like the Pathfinder thing to do."
Shardra nods at Patrick. "Should we go find Rozamus and bring him here?"
Rozamus comes out of the little room and looks at all of you!
"Ehhh .. can I help? Because I have no idea what this is! And you were talking about my Wayfinder? Listen, I trust you enough. Here it is ... " he says and hands it over to you.
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Iggy slings his musket to his back. "If it explodes, my demon body may be able to survive the blast. But if I don't survive whatever happens, it was a pleasure working with you all."
Ignatius approaches the time lock with an identical way finder in each hand, slowly bringing them towards the magical device until they touch its surface.
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Patrick watches with a bit of trepdation and anxiety, hoping that he has been right about this and the whole thing wasn't about to blow up in their faces.
If I ... I mean we .... survive this, I will go to the Flaxseed Lodge ... and try to be ... sociable.
He also uses his other Pearl of Power to get a first level spell slot back.
Patrick, you investigate Rozimus wayfinder and you do not know how but there is a resonance between the ion stone and the five floating crystalline shapes ... this would allow anybody who is wielding the wayfinder to leave the time lock prison!
Shardra hangs back while she watches, unsure what to do. She whispers to Kolo. "What do you think will happen?"
Patrick starts to theorize and he realizes that this Rozimus is from a time before someone soul jarred him and took over his body to escape this dungeon.
Rozimus listens to Patrick's elaboration and after some questions seems to understand.
He starts speaking with some desperation in his eyes, "That's why this wizard with the Tiger wanted to kill me! One of the reasons why killing me might disrupt the machine - it will create a time paradox. I couldn't be possessed later if I'm dead already. And this wizard really wanted to kill me badly! If you ask me if I'd rather die now then be possessed later ... no! I do not want to die! Maybe there is a way to prevent me from being possessed! Please!"
Rozimus is speechless. He hands over the wayfinder to Ignatius!
Crowe shrugs, "Destroy it then."
The big Shoanti steps back and looks at Rozimus, "I hope your soul finds its way back to your body. Pharasma, I guess, would be on your side."
With a couple of good whacks against the Wayfinder holding the very valuable ion stone inside, you destroy it!
Suddenly, you feel as if you are aging! The spheres are sending a wave of energy through the room and then further out through the walls!
It seems as if a time effect grips everything that is organic that is left inside the time protected sphere in this dungeon!
All the books in the library rot and turn to dust! The same goes for the paintings and the strange liquid that is inside the bathtub!
The spheres stop to glow and vanish! Five ion stones drop to the floor which you can then pick up and claim!
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Patrick picks up the ioun stones. He doesn't seem any older, which he is most grateful for, but this brush with possible mortality makes him realise that there are things he really wants to experience before the inevitable.
As for his familiar, she just grins.
It .... should be possible to leave this place now that it is anchored in normal space/time - assuming my ... theory is correct
Crowe sinks to his knees, groaning, as his skin wrinkles, muscles wither and hair recedes, with what remains being lank and white.
"Well," he wheezes, "maybe one of you fellas could help me back on my feet."
Shardra's hair immediately becomes white as she feels the intense energy overwhelm her. Her face wrinkles up and her eyes become cloudy. "Ah, the spirits. I can feel them close."
You see that the energy you all feel starts to dissipate ... and suddenly Rozimus of Tymon starts to fade. He looks at you in panic but it is in vain.
"Noooo .... " he tries to shout but his voice cuts off as he and the fragments of his Wayfinder cease to exist.
~
The Pathfinders conduct a second sweep of the area, and confirm that they've uncovered the full extent of the time-locked prison that once confined Nhur Athemon's disciples.
As you leave the so-called Accursed Halls behind and head back to town, the epithet "accursed" seems especially fitting.
An entire Pathfinder delve-team lost their lives exploring just one level, and how many others will face the same fate in future missions?
But what risk is too high to refuse a chance to uncover the fantastic secrets of an ancient civilization?
Such is the dilemma that faces all Pathfinders: discovery and danger in equal measure.
When you reach the Greenforest Inn, you see Venture-Captain Hestram looks flummoxed.
"Did you see Rozimus on your way back? The man's simply vanished from his sick bed! I thought maybe he somehow gathered the strength to chase after you, but we can't find him anywhere."
After seeing your sombre faces, Hestram realises you likely have bad news to share.