Elanna runs up and punches the skeleton right in the sternum.
Kei strides and throws fire at the skeleton, but the bones don't burn.
Round 3!
Universal conditions: Inspire Courage (+1 attack, +1 damage)
Necromancer (-6 hp, bane 10')
Oiyeron (ward 5')
Grimm
Elien (-8 hp)
Purple Skeleton (-20 hp, shield -5 hp)
Red Zombie (-17 hp - 2*weakness)
Blue Zombie (-22 hp - weakness)
Kei
Nubie (-10 hp)
Elanna
Larraz
Nubie strikes the skeleton twice with a rapier, but the pointed tip just skates off of the skeleton's hard bones.
Larraz casts disrupt undead on the skeleton.
The necromancer concentrates, and a wave of negative energy surges forth, healing his ally and harming the Pathfinders.
DC 20 basic Fortitude
The necromancer looks healthier after watching others suffer!
Round 4!
Universal conditions: Inspire Courage (+1 attack, +1 damage)
Necromancer (-5 hp, bane 10')
Oiyeron (-1 hp, Fort save; ward 5')
Grimm (-1 hp, Fort save)
Elien (-8 hp; -1 hp, Fort save)
Purple Skeleton (-21 hp, shield -5 hp)
Red Zombie (-17 hp - 2*weakness)
Blue Zombie (-22 hp - weakness)
Kei (-1 hp, Fort save)
Nubie (-10 hp; -1 hp, Fort save)
Elanna (-1 hp, Fort save)
Larraz
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Oiyeron grits his teeth as a wave of negative energy washes over him, he fights off part of its effects.
"Staff," Oiyeron replies to Elien, gesturing over his own shoulder at the more martial-looking than magical staff he had brought with him on this trip. It is tied to the side of his pack, where he had put it when he had needed both hands free to carry the statue. "I'm a bit busy at the moment, someone come grab it."
Oiyeron closes his eyes, concentrating for a moment, extending the shimmering aura to ten feet around himself.
"Dear Lady," Oiyeron swears in a sudden flash of realization as he opens his eyes. "There's a club inside my pack also. Sorry, they're not exactly the things I instinctively reach for when attacked by undead."
He moves forward to place the Ward over Elanna and Nubie, then speaks a command and gestures at a loose blunt object across the room. It rises into the air, Oiyeron gestures again, and the object smashes into the skeleton at high-speed.
Elien swings and misses, but Oiyeron's rock hits the skull and knocks it clean off. The bones collapse to the ground.
Round 4!
Universal conditions: will retcon Inspire Courage (+1 attack, +1 damage) if Grimm re-ups
Necromancer (-5 hp, bane 10')
Oiyeron (-0 hp, ward 5')
Grimm (-1 hp, Fort save)
Elien (-10 hp)
Purple Skeleton (-27 hp, shield -5 hp)
Red Zombie (-17 hp - 2*weakness)
Blue Zombie (-22 hp - weakness)
Kei (-1 hp, Fort save)
Nubie (-10 hp; -1 hp, Fort save)
Elanna (-2 hp)
Larraz
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"Or..." Oiyeron blinks in surprise the skeleton collapses, then narrows his eyes, focusing on the Necromancer. "...We can forget the blunt weapons and focus on the flesh and blood target."
Oiyeron raises his hands as he prepares to cast his next spell.
"Come on, minion of Tar-Baphon," Oiyeron yells, his voice rising to a near scream at the end. "This Lastman of Vigil wants a word with you about WHY MY FAMILY IS MISSING!"
"Your FAMILY?" the necromancer asks, incredulously. "Is that what this is about?!"
His jet black eyes narrow as he takes stock of Oiyeron's face. In his mind, a hundred faces flash through his memory. Knights and peasants, men and women, adults and children, all with abject terror splashed across their faces. Their pleas for mercy echoed through his memory, causing a wide, evil grin to spread across his face.
"Marduzi," he whispers. Then, a little louder, "You're a Marduzi."
The necromancer turns his palms upward, letting his morningstar clatter to the ground.
"Go ahead, kill me," he taunts. "What I know will die with me."
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"Nubie, hold. He's unarmed." Oiyeron says in a strained voice. "Please. If he knows something..."
Oiyeron doesn't move his pained brown eyes away from the jet black."Start talking necromancer," he spits the word out as if it is a curse. "And dismiss the aura, or by my Lady's Honor I will blast your soul to Pharasma's judgement-seat. She doesn't look kindly on those who desecrate the dead."
A bolt of pure magical force begins to flicker between Oiyeron's hands. They tremble as Oiyeron's desperate need to follow any lead on his family wars with his desire to wipe the foul magic-user off the face of Golarion.
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Grimm strides across the hallway towards the necromancer with a ferocious howl of fury. He body-slams the cloaked figure, and follows up with with one gauntleted fist to the throat lifting him off the ground and pinning him against the wall.
With his legs kicking ineffectively in the air, Grimm's fierce tusked visage inches from the cultist's face.
Over his shoulder he cries out to the others, "Incapacitate him, gag him, break his legs. We take him with us." To Oiyeron specifically, "We have no time for an interrogation here - let's get him to Caliphas. Oiyeron I will stand with you, but we have to move before those undead monstrosities," he points at the horizon with his polearm, " arrive here..."
A1: Stride
A2: Inspire Courage
A3: Grapple, extremely roughly. Target is grabbed (flatfooted, immobilised, DC5 for manipulate actions) [/ooc]
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Elanna moves in to assist Grimm. She draws a rope from her back and proceeds to tie the Necromancer up.
vs flat footed target if needed.
"No need to break his legs, Grimm. We'll just remove his shoes and everything he carries, hog tie and gag him. There's enough of us to properly look after him once he's loaded into the cart. Don't lower your standards to theirs."
If the Necromancer resists, she will gladly punch him to unconsciousness.
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Kei looks towards the group quizzically.
"This monster... we're really doing this? He broke the laws of nature, raised the corpses of innocents and made them eat the flesh of their loved ones! Whatever knowledge this... thing holds is better forgotten."
He looks at Oiyeron and sighs, the mention of family calms him a little.
"Just... whatever it is, good luck."
He pats him in the shoulder.
Grimm runs up and grabs the necromancer.
Elanna runs up and tries to punch the necromancer into submission, but he resists.
Kei tries to snare the necromancer chemically, but that also misses.
Larraz will heal Nubie.
The necromancer sneers and tries to pull away from Grimm.
The necromancer pulls from his neck a medallion engraved with a fly, making sure Oiyeron gets a good look.
"Do you see this? Augus knows it very well."
Another wave of negative energy surges forth, engulfing the Pathfinders.
DC 20 basic Fort save
"Can you feel it? As you feel your pain, can you feel his?"
The necromancer puts a finger to his forehead as he appears to reach out with his mind. They're in the college, he whispers.
---
Round 4!
Necromancer (-4 hp, bane 10')
Oiyeron (-5 hp, Fort; ward 5')
Grimm (-5 hp, Fort save)
Elien (-10 hp; -5 hp, Fort save)
Purple Skeleton (-27 hp, shield -5 hp)
Red Zombie (-17 hp - 2*weakness)
Blue Zombie (-22 hp - weakness)
Kei (-1 hp; -5 hp, Fort save)
Nubie (-5 hp, Fort save)
Elanna (-2 hp; -5 hp, Fort save)
Larraz
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Oiyeron gasps and the glow between his hands flickers as the negative energy flows over him.
"Don't you dare speak my brother's name." He growls through gritted teeth.
The shimmering aura around Oiyeron vanishes as he completes the gestures shaping his spell and screams out Arcane words. Three bolts of force fly out from his hands and slam into the Urgathoan Necromancer's chest.
Oiyeron's missiles slam into the necromancer's face.
Round 4!
Necromancer (-15 hp, bane 10')
Oiyeron (-5 hp; ward 5')
Grimm (-0)
Elien (-10 hp)
Purple Skeleton (-27 hp, shield -5 hp)
Red Zombie (-17 hp - 2*weakness)
Blue Zombie (-22 hp - weakness)
Kei (-1 hp)
Nubie (-0 hp)
Elanna (-2 hp)
Larraz
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Elien can appreciate the drama playing out well enough that he hesitates until Oiyeron has a chance to at least draw out the information he seems to so desperately need about his family. But then, Grimm's defiant roar and attempt to physically subdue the necromancer takes things in an entirely different direction. Amid the flailing arms and feet of everyone else, he slips by Grimm and rounds the corner just in time to trap their enemy between himself and Elanna. The investigator's eyes swiftly assess the unholy priest's defenses, then his blade plunges ahead.
As Elien steps into position, Elanna's fist flies towards the necromancer's face. A look of terror that the necromancer so relished seeing in others crosses his own face. The hateful sneer, however, is steadfastly plastered on his face to the final blow.
The sound of cartilege snapping echoes across the otherwise quiet hall, as the necromancer falls to the ground.
The necromancer's allies have clearly heard his final call to them. Gargantuan zombies lumber close enough so that the Pathfinders feel the ground shake with each one of their thundering steps.
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"Good show, Elanna! Resourceful as always, my dear!" Elien says as he watches the necromancer crash to the ground. Bending down, he immediately starts assisting her with binding their prisoner. "We take him with us!" he announces to everyone. "He'll stand trial for his crimes in Caliphas. I'll see to it. And, perhaps, Oiyeron...you'll get the answers you need out of him when he can be properly interrogated."
He casts a glance around at Grimm, Nubie, and Kei. "The rest of you, gather what's left of the items we identified. The sword, the painting, and whatever else you may have found in the siderooms. Every second counts! Stow what you have, and get ready to carry the statue to the cart. Larraz? See if you can help Elanna drag this one out, as well. And soothe Desert Wind in case the horse has become skittish from the approaching horde."
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"Thanks for distracting him, just enough for me to strike, as Nubie did before." replies Elanna, shaking her hand that has taken a strange purple hue and almost doubled in size.
"That was also a good group work with your spells and singing.", she adds to Grimm, Oiyeron and Kei.
She blows on her hand and adds "Oh, and please remind me to buy a light mace at the first occasion. Better, bash me on the head if I forget. This punching of a shield-bearing skeleton was a one-off, believe me."
She grabs the unconscious Necromancer, ties and gags him quickly before dragging him unceremoniously towards the cart with Larraz' help.
"And don't forget the wayfinder that was down here and the jewellery and holy water we found upstairs.", she calls to her companions.
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Grimm's primary professional skills, as he sees them, are those of a warrior, a hero, and a man of the people. But to observe him dashing through the college, snatching up valuables and throwing them, the necromancer, and the statue in the cart, you'd imagine him as a burglar or housebreaker. He rifles through the building like a junkie through a stolen handbag.
"Time, ladies and gentlemen, time! Last orders please!" he calls standing in the bed of the cart, "It's late - you don't have to go home but you can't stay here!!"
Once the others jump aboard, Grimm will ride back astride the cart, ready to fend off any nasties with either Bertha or his polearm. Remaining to fight the golliath undead is NOT on his to-do list...
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"Thank you for knocking the monster out, Elanna." Oiyeron says, his voice still shaky from adrenaline and slightly controlled rage. "I was worried, after letting loose the spell, of course, that I might have killed him. Then became concerned that I hadn't." He rips the unholy symbol off the unconscious necromancer's neck and tosses it on the ground. "We need to make sure he stays unconscious, I think he was telepathically communicating with the rest of the force."
Oiyeron helps gather items and carry the statue the rest of the way out to the cart.
"I wish I knew something to help the cart go faster, or veil us." Oiyeron says. "Do we have time to torch the building as we leave? I don't feel like leaving anything useful we missed for the enemy to find."
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Elanna nods: "It's easier when you are not involved on a personal level. I wouldn't know what to do in your place."
She absentmindedly pulls out a worn compass decorated with elven engravings and rolls it her hand. "Or would I?", she mutters. "But I didn't even pause to think... I could have asked them, but I didn't bother to try... Damn...", she trails off.
With visible effort, she gets a grip on herself and turns her mind back on the matter.
"Well, we can blind him as well. So even if he wakes, he won't know where we are."
"As for hiding our tracks, we are not far from the border, so I think speed is our best defense. Obscuring our tracks will take too much time unless we can do it magically."
She turns to Kei and Larraz, "Can one of you do it? I mean make itdifficult for the reinforcements to follow us?"
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"Do we have time to torch the building as we leave? I don't feel like leaving anything useful we missed for the enemy to find."
"Way ahead of you..." Elien responds. With his hands free from having helped carry the statue down to the cart, he's already unslung his crossbow, preparing another oil-soaked rag to rap around one of his bolts. "Get the cart moving," he says, "I'll see if I can't set the building aflame from a distance...like we did to distract that last horde on our way into Lastwall."
Once he has the missile ready and loaded, Elien lights the oil-soaked rag, raises his crossbow, and fires at the college thru one of the open windows.
"At worst, maybe they'll all think we perished in the fire...including our necromantic friend here. Or, if we're lucky, there'll be enough to smoke to also hide our retreat."
Zombies are permanently slowed, and cannot keep up with even a slow party. After outrunning the slow zombies, the Pathfinders' return trip to Caliphas is surprisingly mundane.
When the Pathfinders arrive back at the Vodavani Lodge, they see Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss casting healing spells on and fussing over a few Pathfinders whom she and her team extracted during their mission into the Gravelands. She greets the Pathfinders, solemnly listens to their debriefing of the slain Pathfinders they encountered.
The documents and texts the Pathfinders return are all of great use to the Society, but the statue in particular amazes Evni. To Larraz, Evni offers to either return him back home to Katapesh or to look for more peaceful locations to reassign him. Larraz politely declines the invitation for further adventures, at least for now, wishing only to return home to his family and take a long break.
Evni frowns when she sees the necromancer. "This is a dangerous prize, but hopefully we will be able to get some information out of him." He is whisked away by a heavily armed guard.
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A few days later, Oiyeron is awakened before dawn by some very insistent knocking on his door.
An orc stands at her doorway, holding a scroll.
"I'm Aktuh, from the Vigilant Seal faction. I've a scroll from Evni Zongnoss."
He gently offers a handshake, and then hands Oiyeron the scroll.
Just as he's about to leave, he turns. "I've heard about your quest, and have an idea for a magical artifact that would act like a dog. Maybe you could use it to track Ralthiss's footsteps back from the college."
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After Aktuh leaves, Oiyeron opens the scroll.
Ralthiss, the necromancer you captured in the Gravelands, has proved extraordinarily resistant to questioning. We have only two cryptic clues: first, he has threatened that when 'Dr. Velshun finishes his experiments,' we will all pay. Second, hidden in a secret cloak pocket was a hand-drawn map of southern Razmiran. Several lines drawn, erased, and redrawn indicate that the necromancer had been triangulating a location of unknown significance just outside of the city of Xer.
Oiyeron can practically hear Evni sigh.
I know that this is only a first step, but if you can find out what Ralthiss's interest was in this location, it's possible you'll find out more about his operation and, eventually, find out what happened with your family.
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Once their debrief is done and their battered but still living prisoner has been taken away, Grimm rolls his shoulders expansively and leans over the railings on the balcony. He watches the people in the market milling to and fro, and soaks in the chatter, the smalltalk, the sales pitches from the crowd in all its noise and chaotic bustle. "This is what we defend. This is what opposing the Tyrant is for."
Turning back to the party in the Lodge's sitting room he thanks each in turn. "I would face danger with each of you again - gladly. Thank you". To Oiyeron he states "I know not where the society would take us next, but, if our paths lie along the same road, I would gladly aid you in finding your family."
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On their way back, Elanna had alternated between relief at the success of their mission and despair, knowing they were coming back with more dead Pathfinders than alive ones.
To avoid thinking about it, she had busied herself with scouting the road ahead and obscuring their tracks, even if it was not necessary anymore.
For those who knew her, her report had been lacking her usual energy and boastfulness. She kept it as short as possible and had let the other carry most of the final tasks.
Afterwards, she had approached each of her companions, thanking them in turn.
Kei for his diplomatic approach when Larraz was hidden under the couch. "I do not have the patience and kindness you showed. Keep it, it is all the more precious in those times."
Grimm for his formidable presence on the battlefield and his inspiring songs and words. "I'm glad you were here on this mission, and I will be happy to work alongside you whenever our masters send us on the same mission again."
Nubie for his fearlessness. "The Society is bigger with you in it. We did good together and I learnt a lot about courage looking at your actions today."
After a moment of steeling herself, she joins Oiyeron. "I don't know how you can go on with the knowledge of all that happened in your homeland.", she says. "This will take a lot for me to digest but I can already say I am impressed by your will and dedication and have been honored to be your companion in this expedition."
She hesitates "While this is clearly not my area of expertise, if you need any help tracking your family, just send the word and I'll come and assist you."
Then she had turned to Elien, her closest companion. "I didn't really believe you when you told me of the situation here. Heck, I didn't really believe the instructors at the Academy when we learnt about the Tyrant. But now I've seen and experienced some of it. And I feel way smaller than before. I don't really know if I want to go back there to help some more or take the fastest boat out of here and never come back."
There's a forced smile: "And I was very afraid for you for a moment there. I'm supposed to be the one charging stupidly on the battlefield, not you. You could have been killed and I would have been helpless. There's so many death around here, I don't want to lose you on top."
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"I don't know how you can go on with the knowledge of all that happened in your homeland." ... "... if you need any help tracking your family, just send the word and I'll come and assist you."
"Thank you for your offer, Elanna, and yours, Grimm." Oiyeron says. "I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do from here, we will have to see what the necromancer's interrogation brings up. Until then..." The mage shrugs. "I just have to have hope, and pray, I guess? That Iomedae is still watching over those like my mother who have sworn to serve Her."
"I'm going to base myself here in Caliphas for a while. Send word to the Lodge here if you see or hear anything. Especially of my wife, Loria. She is a long-range scout in the force my mother commands, or... commanded, and wields a spear and buckler. The last buckler I saw her wearing had my mother's crest on it: an open book behind Iomedae's sword. Her full name is Viatoloria, I-- I don't know if she would be going by my family name or her own, Asellianos. We were still... discussing that. We'd only been married a few months."
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"I didn't really believe you when you told me of the situation here. Heck, I didn't really believe the instructors at the Academy when we learnt about the Tyrant. But now I've seen and experienced some of it. And I feel way smaller than before. I don't really know if I want to go back there to help some more or take the fastest boat out of here and never come back....And I was very afraid for you for a moment there. I'm supposed to be the one charging stupidly on the battlefield, not you. You could have been killed and I would have been helpless. There's so many death around here, I don't want to lose you on top."
"Ah, no worries..." Elien replies, "Larraz fixed me up right as day. I guess I went charging in because it seemed like we needed someone to do it. I've got no deathwish, I assure you. And falling on the field of battle to a necromancer always runs the risk that you'll rise again as his undead servant. So, all the more reason to put them down wherever we find them."
The investigator puts his feet up on a nearby table as he reclines on one of the sofas in the Vodavani Lodge. A tome espousing the greater mysteries of arcane magecraft sits open on his lap. "And I know what you mean about Lastwall. It's a sad country now. Renamed the Gravelands purely because of how many died there...as well as how many have been turned into the Tyrant's servants. Ustalav has its own shared history in that regard. We won our freedom, but now it seems threatened again by the Eye of Dread. All the more reason to fight it back, I say." He taps the book in front of him. "To whit, I've been doing a bit of studying on arcane spellcraft. I don't know if Oiyeron inspired me to look into it, or if it just makes sense to fight fire with fire, but adding more tools to the tool shed seems right if we're to have any hope of resisting a lich like Tar-Baphon. I'll likely come nowhere near his power, of course. But I'd like to learn enough that maybe I can help others outsmart him, or at least do my small part in taking down those who serve him."
He reaches over to a small side table and lifts a goblet of wine so he can take a sip. Once he eases the cup back down, he regards Elanna more fully. "So...what next for us, I wonder? The Society's seen fit to assign us the same mission three times in a row now. Perhaps, I'll see you again on the next one? Maybe something into your homeland for a change? If not, I'll likely lend Evni a hand here at the lodge in Caliphas as I continue my studies. But I doubt I'll stay here too long. The road calls. And a Pathfinder is ever ready to heed it."