As the battle rages, time warps slightly and returns to the moment where the worm struck at Aiden - but this time, the beast misses snatching him up in its teeth!
Now extremely up close and personal with the worm, Bubba strikes at the creature with his dagger and then finally tries out his claws and teeth. While the dagger strike is a terrible miss and he can't quite bring himself to bite into the worm's rotten hide, he does take a small chunk of flesh out with his claw swipe!
Guy falls back a bit and uses Sarenrae's blessing to bolster Aiden's defenses, having been shaken by a glimpse of a future where his ally ended up in the worm's mouth.
The Ghost Writer and Aiden both strike back, ripping into the horrible worm and Molos fires EVEN MOAR MISSILES, and the combination is too much for the battered ghoul worm! With a mighty shriek, the creature collapses to the ground with a mighty *THUD*, shaking the entire temple with its bulk.
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Bubba holds on while the great worm beast crashes to the floor with a goopey thud. He quickly pokes his head up and looks around grinning "Whew, that was close, thought he was gonna eat us one by one!" He climbs off and wipes his dagger on his pants before hiding it back up his sleeve.
"So.. now let's have a look around this place... me first!" And he's off!
Now that you've got a moment to take a breather, you can finally have a better look around this simple, one-room temple. And Bubba is eager to get started!
Where the walking worm last stood you see several items, which fell off as he collapsed: a spellbook, two scrolls, a masterwork quarterstaff, a wand, a flask of liquid, a ring, and a cloak. Also, after searching, Bubba discovers a much larger tome under the wreckage of the altar, as well as a headband and a scythe that had been part of the Urgathoa statue on the altar.
Blindness/Deafness
False Life
It's a wand of Mage Armor with 32 charges.
It's a potion of Cure Light Wounds.
Ring of Protection +1
Cloak of Resistance +1
Phylactery of Negative Channeling
+1 Keen Scythe
3rd - Displacement, Haste, Lightning Bolt, Vampiric Touch
2nd - Darkness, False Life, Scare, Scorching Ray, Summon Swarm
1st - Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement
More importantly, a quick perusal reveals the larger tome found under the ruined altar to be the tome you've been seeking - The Testament of Geb. You even find a bookmarked page that details the summoning of a ghoulish worm, just like the one you defeated moments ago.
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"Hey look at all this cool stuff! And some boring stuff too!" He tosses the scrolls and spellbook towards the spellcasters before finally finding the big tome they were after "Think this is it? Its got a book mark.. looks kinda like a naked dead lady.. that's a LOT of wrinkles, eww." He slides it over towards the group for perusal.
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Aiden picks at his teeth with the long claws trying to dislodge some undead worm meat, while he comes over to see what Bubba has found. "Yeah, that looks like it. Good find." He activates his Discerning Wayfinder to inspect the others items.
He frowns, only able to identify the wand. "Just a wand of Mage Armor. Not sure about the rest. But we can take it all back with us."
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The Ghostwriter quickly identifies the two scrolls, using his highly refined understanding of the written word.
"We have some spell scrolls here, and a spell book. I would say that we have fared quite well for a single days work "
The tengu flips through the Book of Geb. "This look like the grimoire for which we are searching. I must assume that this wormy fellow was the missing necromancer. Is there enough left of the body to bring back?"
You take a few moments to try and identify what you can of the various magic items you've found and to try and grab up a handful of the dried, desiccated worms that you now suspect were once Joktan Heth...or perhaps carried part of his spirit, in some form. Once you've done what you can, there's little else to be done but to activate the teleportation token you were given and return to the lodge.
After several minutes, everyone begins to feel the familiar tingle of magic before the floor drops out from beneath your feet. As the vertigo and disorientation subsides, you find yourself back in the Grand Lodge with VC Valsin rushing through the door towards you.
"You've returned! Did you get it? Did you find the tome? What about Heth? Any sign of him?" the words tumble from the man before you can even find your feet.
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Aiden looks oddly at Bubba as he watches the miming. He turns back to try and narrate the wild animations. "We found the book, and have it here. As for Heth...Unfortunately, he met his end. Even more unfortunately, it wasn't even at the hands of any undead. He was killed by some zealous Pharasmins who saw him and his group and slaughtered them. We tried to put his spirit to rest. But we were able to finish his task."
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"I was afraid of that," Valsin sighs as you relay Joktan's fate. "When he and his team disappeared we knew to expect the worst, but I wasn't expecting Pharasmins to have been the culprits."
"Look, I'd like to keep the details of what happened to him quiet - there's no point in sullying his memory with what the tortured remnants of his mind did after his death. And it sounds like you were able to appease his spirit, which is the best you could've done given the circumstances," the VC continues. "If you're asked about him, you recovered his body, but it was too mangled to raise, alright? Or if you prefer not to lie, just say you don't want to discuss it, out of respect for the dead. The last thing we need is rumors saying we killed him on purpose or other such rubbish to start spreading. I'd also like you to keep the existence of the Testament of Geb to yourselves as well, for the sake of the Society."
Valsin beckons for you all to follow. "It's high time we got those disguises off of you. Once that's done, take a rest for a few days - you more than deserve it for the service you've done for the Pathfinder Society this day."
And so, after another drink from the Chalice of Undeath, you're all restored to your living forms. The Testament of Geb is sent to the Vaults for safekeeping, after extensive research by some of the most esteemed necromancers of the Spells. A day or so later, you begin to hear rumors among your fellow Pathfinders that Joktan's body has been found in the Puddles district, the apparent victim of a mugging. He is eulogized in a special ceremony at Skyreach and a section of the Vaults holding a number of necromantic artifacts is renamed in his honor. And soon, the Grand Lodge turns to other matters, the fate of Joktan Heth all but forgotten...except by those of you who know better.