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Several Pathfinders start to sneak down the side of the canyon, trying to keep as much as possible to the sides, and behind the cairns and dead plants that offer cover. Even as they do their best not to be seen, several Leshys wander by interested in their own worlds, however some stop and look at Sky, Vinny and Thurk quizzically. Several even laugh as Sky trips over the root of one of the dead bushes, causing him to both fall and let out a yelp of surprise.
As you try to hunker down, more Leshys come towards you intrigued by your strange behaviour, soon you are all surrounded by tens of weird Leshy creatures, some with big long thorns that grow off their arms and feet, others whose hands are big floppy green leaves, unable to hold anything. If you could think it, then that sort of strange plant like Leshy is here, some with bunny ears growing from their shoulders and long sharp teeth, tongues that lick the nectar from their own blue hands.
They jostle and guide you into the main path, whilst they start jabbering words in the strange Abyssal language.
"Alert! Alert!" .... "Sneaky Outsider folk!" ..... "Nasty, Nasty Unnatural Looking" .... "Take them..Take them" .... "Can't trust sneaky" .... "Sneaky, Sneaky up to no good!"
They look towards the Leshy by the monolith who is busy as he is putting the finishing touches on a new leshy, a hideous monster made from spindly vines growing through the carved open corpse of an opossum, with two small pebbles serving as the eyes, tied in place with string. The leshy crafter finishes attaching the last limb, and the opossum leshy twitches to life atop the broken monolith, the body suffused with a dim, yellowish light. It takes several small jerky steps forward, then disintegrates, the head falling off and one of the pebble eyes rolling along in your direction.
The Leshy concentrates on the fallen creation, "No. No, no, no, the river pebbles were not a success..... Very damp. Needs an adder stone? ... Yes. Adder stone works. Then they can see everything. Also, not slippery, I can tie the string."
At first, the leshy seems oblivious to the world. Then he turns his head, the jagged chunk of stone in his eye making odd shadows play across his face. The commotions seems to attract his attention, as the jabberings tell him of your unusual approach.
His face creases around the stone, as he looks in your direction. "Why you sneak up on me, when “I’m restoring the natural order! The forest here is very unnatural. Very strange, sad. The plants are a very strange color, they’re green, the rivers never flow with blood, strange monsters everywhere just like you! Just other day, I saw a thing. Like a rat, with a long, fluffy tail! Burying an acorn in the ground. Very horrifying! And my brother leshy says he saw a thing, four feet and a little white tail, branches on its head. Monsters everywhere! Very disturbing!"
The leshy looks quite earnest as he says this. One of the smaller leshys, which looks like a fox that has been turned inside out and is leaking dead leaves from within, comes and bumps their head against the leshy crafter, as if comforting him.
"So I think—something must be done! It’s unnatural, this place. But I’m only one leshy, so I’m making friends. Together, we’ll make this place work right, proper nature, with eye-mushrooms, and screaming flowers, and snakes! Not these bad snakes, only one head. Very upsetting. Should have sixteen heads! We will fix."
"It’s a very difficult and important job.” The leshy puffs up as he says this. "But I can do it. Eventually." He pauses. "It may take me a bit, though. Especially when I'm interrupted in my work by sneaky unnatural things like you! But will you help?" The sharp stone in the leshy’s eye glitters as it says this. "You look a little creepy. But are you friends? Why did act like thieves trying to steal my creations? Are you enemies of the craft... of the power of stone?"
You can tell the creature, is very uncertain about you, but appears to let you at least answer his questions and maybe even enter into a conversation. The Leshys that surround you in a throng start to wander off as they contemplate their new lives, though there are still enough to keep you in place at the moment.
It is clear that the leshy crafter’s perceptions have been badly warped by the chunk of Abyssal rock in his head. Removing the stone might restore the Leshy Crafter's true perception.
The rock in the Leshy Crafter's eye appears to have broken off the Monolith.
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Vinny tries hard to remember anything useful about this kind of magic. In the meantime, she says to Sky, "I don't know, squirrels can be kind of creepy with their little hands and beady eyes. I think some of his creations are kind of neat!" She gives him a look as if to say Urwal said to try talking to them first!.
She turns away from the leshy and says to the group quietly, "I think the rock might be part of the problem. Maybe if we remove it, the leshy will go back to normal."
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"Now now Sky, be polite." Milton admonishes his companion. "These are quite interesting. My companion may not appreciate the finer details, but I myself am a craftsman, a practitioner in the art of creating life. I would be honored to compare techniques, and perhaps assist in your work." Milton whistles, and his stitched together bird flits down and lands on his hand. "This is my friend, and my creation. As you can see, I have made some adjustments to the original design."
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The rock in the Leshy's eye, appears to be empowered by the monolith, it might even be a piece that's fallen from the ancient stone structure. Disrupting the power source might stop the Leshy crafter, if only you could get closer to the ancient stone.
As you fervour for righting the natural world increases, you mind is taken back to the calming springtime in the monastery. Zengar, one of your teachers says, Remember the innocent are not worthy of punishment.
As you look to the Leshy, you can't help but think that if the stone is the problem, the Leshy is not really guilty of bringing these unnatural creatures to the world.
You seem fascinated by the Leshy's crafting, it would be a real shame if you could not maybe work with the Crafter on some good creations.
You remember that Urwal took you to one side before you left, Universal peace does not come to the bloody stone You have pondered this a while, maybe in makes sense now, that peace may not be possible if the stone is covered in the Leshy's blood.
There is ancient magic at work here, you may open Vinny and Milton's Arcana spoiler with either an Arcana check or Occultism check DC=18.
As you left the Redpine Camp, you spoke to Ceneviel, who told you, "Peace is not made when there is a martyr in the making."
The monolith pulsates with a yellow light, that seems to push the Leshy crafter to continue with his making. Despite that, the Leshy Crafter listens to the outsiders words, as they lie and try to pander to the Leshy's good nature. But the Leshy is angered by the interruption to his work and the behaviour of these unnatural creatures trying to sneak up upon the holy power, trying to stop his creation of more natural creatures. The Leshy utters some guttural sounds.
They don't belong here, they are not with us, get the monsters!
With those words a thorn dart is released from the Leshy's body and thrown straight at Sky, whose words were an abomination to the Leshy.
Barrek Half-Dead(Perception):
Milton Cooper(Stealth):
The Shark of Gozreh: (Perception):
Thurk von Wolkowitz: (Perception): has Darkvision
Toad licker: (Perception/Stealth):
Vinny Santorini: (Perception):
LC
OL
DT
Barrek AC 17 HP 21
Milton AC 16 HP 19
Shark AC 19 HP 32 Current 26
Thurk AC 15 HP 15
Toad AC 18 HP 38
Vinny AC 17 HP 17
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Sky flinches from the dart and immediately switches to his Shark Stance allowing him to move a little easier through the crowd of leshies like a shark swimming through water as he slides through and is able to make it behind one of the large bones up ahead, closing the gap a little between him and the abomination.
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The Leshy watches as the sneaky monsters (Sky and Barrek) move up behind some bones. So the Leshy Crafter moves forward, and starts to move his hands in intricate motions, the stone in his eye glows. Spikey roots suddenly appear around Barrek and Sky, as they shoot up from the ground, they take the shape of Abyssal claws that rake at the flesh of the two Pathfinders, digging into their skin and drawing blood.
From out of the crowd of Leshys milling about, 4 mature Leshy's appear to surround and protect the Leshy Crafter. Two of the Leshys shoot rotten pears and fruit at Thurk. Thurk is unable to duck out of the way of the first barrage as the fruit strikes him hard. As Thurk tries to shout a warning to his companions, the rotten fruit seems to force it's way into his mouth and nose. The rotten fruit, tastes extremely bitter as Thurk almost retches as it touches his tongue.
Base damage piercing
Crit Success DC=30 - No damage
Success DC=20 - Take 6 HPs damage
Fail DC=10 - Take 13 HPs damage
Crit Fail - Take 26 HPs damage
Possible damage piercing
Crit Success DC=30 - No damage
Success DC=20 - Take 7 HPs damage
Fail DC=10 - Take 14 HPs damage
Crit Fail - Take 28 HPs damage
Crit Success DC=25 Unaffected and and immune to Bitter Harvest for 1 hour
Success DC=15 Unaffected
Fail DC=5 You are sickened 1, once you remove the sickened condition through a successful save, you are immune for an hour.
Crit Failure You are sickened 1 and take -1 on save to remove sickened condition
Barrek AC 17 HP 21 - to add ref damage
Milton AC 16 HP 19
Shark AC 19 HP 32 Current 26 - to add ref damage
Thurk AC 15 HP 15
Toad AC 18 HP 38
Vinny AC 17 HP 17
LC
HL1
HL2
PL1
PL2
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Seeing the leshies move to protect their leader, Sky sees an opening and decides he might be able to stop it all if he can take out the leader. He whispers a quick prayer to Gozreh before dashing in, moving between the leshies and making it over the dead tree limbs to get right up close and personal with the leshy crafter, charging his feet with his positive energy and letting out two desperate shark tail kicks in an attempt to stop the corruption.
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Vinny ponders the leshy crafter some more.
"That rock in its eye... it looks a lot like the rock of the monolith. I'll bet they're connected, maybe if we disrupt or destroy the monolith the leshy will settle down?"
Facing the more immediate problem though, she pulls out a flask of lightning and a flask of acid from her bag. She throws them at the leshy closest to her .
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The leshy is hit by a bottle thrown by Vinny, that sends a blue shock of lightening zapping into the Leshys stem, making it jerk uncontrollably. The sudden movement meant that the second vial thrown by Vinny missed the creature, as its acidic contents burn into the ground, sizzling and sending up acrid vapours. The vapours float upwards on the air, burning into the Leshy's foliage .
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Milton fires at the Leshy, but with the other Leshys milling around and starting to dissipate the shot goes wide.
Sneaking around the back of the monolith, Toadlicker tries to bite into the stone with his strong sharp teeth. As he bites down, the stone seems to strengthen under some abyssal force, and his bite chips off a pebble rather than a chunk, not damaging the monolith at all. However now that Toadlicker is up close, he can see ancient abyssal markings on the monolith. Even in his rage, the goblin understands that defacing these signs, might sever the link between the Abyss and the stone. If only Toadlicker had spent more time understanding in his Arcana and Occult lessons. A chisel and hammer would do the trick. But all that Toadlicker can think of now, is Get the stone from the Leshy...or kill the Leshy. Hold the Leshy down and pluck out the stone .... or bite the Leshy!!
Meanwhile Sky and Barrek advance on the Leshy Crafter, with deadly intent. Shark's tail hits with great force, but as the strike causes the Leshy to flinch and to Shark's surprise, one of the Plum Leshy's shooting rotten fruit, screams in pain as its body is crushed under a ferocious bludgeoning blow. The golden light of purity doesn't seem to effect the Leshy at all.
The Leshy crafter laughs, but it's jollity is cut short by the blows raining down on it from Barrek's fists. Both of which hit and cause the Leshy great pain.
The Leshy Crafter reacts to the attacks, it strikes at Shark with it's razor sharp leaf, that cuts deep into Shark's shoulder.
The Crafter then moves his hands in a strange hypnotic dance whist he speaks some dreadful unknown words. He does this and the stone in his eye glows as he calls forth materials and natural energies from the surrounding area. It creates a brief vortex of flora and debris. The debris from the thorny plants and stoney ground is sharp and cuts the flesh deeply, clubbing that bruises and breaks your bones, and magical in that it sucks out your living essence.
Base damage is piercing damage + negative damage.
Crit Success DC=30 You take no damage
Success DC=20 You take 7HPs damage
Failure DC=10 You take 14HPs damage
Crit Failure you take 28HPs damage
The debris in the vortex surrounds the Leshy Crafter , it brings up a cloud of dust making everything within it obscured.
The Leshy moves to flank Barrek and attack
The second strike is made against Sky misses as the debris gets in the eyes of the Leshy making it's strike inaccurate.
Then the other Leshy marches round to Vinny, before striking her twice, , then strikes again but the stalk is wide of the mark as Vinny skips out of the way.
Barrek AC 17 HP 21 Current 10
Milton AC 16 HP 19
Shark AC 19 HP 32 Current 12
Thurk AC 15 HP 15
Toad AC 18 HP 38
Vinny AC 17 HP 17 Current 11
LC 22
HL1 2
HL2
PL1
PL2 12
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But all that Toadlicker can think of now, is Get the stone from the Leshy...or kill the Leshy. Hold the Leshy down and pluck out the stone .... or bite the Leshy!!
"Stone... Leeshiee...Bite... Hold... Yes!" After a brief musing Toadlicker jumps (literally!) into action. "Must get rock. Bite Leeshiee!"
◆ Stride
◆ Step
Toadlicker veritably jumps on the leshy and tried to grapple it, looking for a way to bite the rock out of it's face!
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Barrek and Sky take a battering in the storm kicked up by the Leshy Crafter, Barrek tightens his muscles and repels much of the damage, however Sky isn't so lucky, as the life sucking energy in the vortex takes the last of Sky's strength. Sky falls to the ground, unconscious.
Toadlicker quickly moves from the monolith after his abortive attempt to damage the stonework, to try and take down the Leshy Crafter and remove the stone from it's eye. Unfortunately in his haste to make his way over, Toadlicker jumped to early and his hands just feel the Leshy Crafter wriggle it's way out of his grasp.
Meanwhile Milton takes a couple of pot shots at the Leshy by Vinny, but he is so shocked by Sky's fall, he misses completely.
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Fort Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Barrek steps away from the disturbing amalgamation of bones and vegetation that struck at him, keeping keeps his focus on the crafter. Another pair of fast jabs leave after-images in their wake as he strikes flurriously at the creature.
Flurry 1: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25 for 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 bludgeoning
Flurry 2: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 7 - 4 = 4
Strike: 1d20 + 7 - 8 ⇒ (1) + 7 - 8 = 0
Persistent Fire: 1d4 ⇒ 2 and Flat Check: 1d20 ⇒ 13
Unsatisfied with that single blow, but concerned for Sky's life , he draws his meager healing potion and administers it to the other monk.
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In her hurry to get to Sky, none of Vinney's flasks hit their target, but just splash the Leshy who looks at Vinny, hoping for revenge later.
Barrek smacks the Leshy Crafter hard, only to hear a groan come from the Leshy getting ready to shoot, the Leshy Crafter's stone glows a sickly yellow.
Barrek then takes out a flask and pours it's contents into Sky's mouth, leaving Sky prone on the floor, but with his life now back in his body, his breath it stronger, his eyes are open.
Barrek AC 17 HP 21 Current 9
Milton AC 16 HP 19
Shark AC 19 HP 32 Current 12
Thurk AC 15 HP 15
Toad AC 18 HP 38
Vinny AC 17 HP 17 Current 11
LC 22
HL1 5
HL2
PL1 6
PL2 12
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Sky comes back to the living and gives a quick "Thank you" to Barrek, turning his focus back to the fight, quickly getting up from the ground , switching to his stance and giving the leshy crafter another flurry of kicks.
Sky can't quite see his target and manages to whiff in the fog with his first flurry.
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The debris and dust circling the falls to the ground, allowing the Plum Leshy to fire it's rotten fruit at the first creature that comes into view (reaction). Barrek and Sky appear in front of Leshy, who fires a shot at Barrek for giving life back to Sky. The Leshy shoots a rotten fruit at Barrek, but it flies high just missing Barrek's head. .
With all the attacks coming the Leshy Crafter's way, it is surrounded by his enemies, the stone in his eye pulses that sickly yellow. With the pulse the leshy crafter calls spiky roots that shoot up from the ground in the shape of Abyssal claws before retracting an instant later.
Basic damage
Critical Success DC=30 No damage
Success DC=20 6HPs damage
Failure DC=10 12 HPs damage
Critical Failure 24HPs damage
The Leshy Crafter then follows it up with a strike against against Toadlicker, who is trying to grab him. The Leshy's razor sharp leaf slashes across Toadlicker's back as the goblin moves to escape the wounds, but instead it slices deep into the goblins The stone in the Leshy's eye glows even brighter as though the link with the Abyss has fed on the strike.
The grey leshy moves forward to Milton, then attempts to strike the bespectacled man. but Milton is far to clever to be caught by such a inept strike and skips to the side. Frustrated the Leshy tries again but it seems that the power of the Abyss is concentrated on the Crafter, not on his minion.
The other Leshy striker delays, waiting to see who still stands.
The Plum Leshy seeing Vinny decides to try and hit the reinforcements. It sends a rotten fruit at the alchemist making her way over. . The Leshy pleased with it's accuracy, sends another fruit towards Vinny, Annoyed that if failed to hit the seccond time, it takes a step forward.
Crit Success DC=25 Unaffected and and immune to Bitter Harvest for 1 hour
Success DC=15 Unaffected
Fail DC=5 You are sickened 1, once you remove the sickened condition through a successful save, you are immune for an hour.
Crit Failure You are sickened 1 and take -1 on save to remove sickened condition
Barrek AC 17 HP 21 Current 9
Milton AC 16 HP 19
Shark AC 19 HP 32 Current 2
Thurk AC 15 HP 15
Toad AC 18 HP 38 Current 22
Vinny AC 17 HP 17 Current 11
LC 22
HL1 5
HL2
PL1 6
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As Sky and Barrek fall, the other Leshy sees that the Crafter is making easy work of the goblin, so goes to remove the new threat of the half-orc. It walks over and tries to strike Thurk, then smiling tries to hit Thurk again but misses.
Toadlicker manages to grab the Leshy Crafter and with his jaws attempts to rip the stone from it's eye, but the effort of holding the Leshy Crafter makes it more difficult than the goblin had first thought.
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Vinny ignores the icky fruits the leshy throws at her. She moves forward and pulls a bottle of lightning from her bag. She throws the bottle at the leshy crafter, calling out to Toadlicker, "Don't worry, it won't hurt you!"
She then pulls a flask of acid out and throws it at the leshy closest to her.
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Milton shaken by having the Leshy right in front of him, is unable to aim the bolt accurately, instead the bolt fires just past the Leshy's shoulder.
Vinny is unable to find her target with the first hit, with the close proximity of Toadlicker, she errs on the side of caution, but indoing so misses her target.
Instead she takes it out on the Leshy fighter, striking it with her flask of acid that burns into the plants flesh.
Barrek AC 17 HP 21 Current 0
Milton AC 16 HP 19
Shark AC 19 HP 32 Current 15
Thurk AC 15 HP 15
Toad AC 18 HP 38 Current 22
Vinny AC 17 HP 17 Current 11
LC 22
HL1 5
HL2 2 + 1d6 persistent acid
PL1 6
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Sky gets brought back with Thurk's quick medical aid, taking a second to remember his surroundings as he stands up and sees Toadlicker trying to get the stone out of the leshy's head. He figures his attacks haven't been working so he attempts to help the goblin at getting the stone.