Loka feels some wounds open back up on her as she tries to get Tavvar's attention, but the woman has closed in on herself as she wallows in her cataclasmic (at least to her) failing.
The goblin then instead truns around and slaps some soothing mental energy on Eldon. The newly empowered halfling then strides over to Tavvar and with pyhsical intervention helps snap her back to reality. She jerks up and looks at him before tossing something into the center of the big flaw behind the halfling closing it for good.
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Rogar -7 Magic Weapon
Thalaasi
Eldon
Lokaloka -10
Denger -5
Channary -3
Tavvar: 6 hp
Harly: 9
Francis: 4 (or 14)
Orianna: 4 (or 14)
Ritual
Uncontrolled Flaws: 1
Black Wisp
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Current map
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Channary feels as if she is being otuched by ... something. And not in a good way, either. A wound appears on her arm, on the area she blocked the wisp's tendril with. The flesh is darkened and painful, but she remains focused on the task at hand. A series of magical bolts strike the wisp, and Channary usese the momentary lapse in the wisp's focus to run back towards Lokaloka and the assistant in dressed in a vomit green apron. She quickly applies tinctures to their wounds.
"Not pickle brine, but it does the job.", she smiles at the goblin while pouring the potions.
1 action - Stride
2 actions 2x Battle Medicine (1 action each)
Loka conjures three bolts of energy that slam into the wisp three times shredding some of the shadow surrounding it and leaving it with only the core of it's being left. Rogar is then able to move closer and slam Skeggøx into the body of the wisp, sundering it and starting to disipate it. But before the dead creature can fade completely, teh dwarf takes a second quick swing and sunders it into four separate pieces. As it dies, the final uncontained flaw disappears leaving only foour flaws behind and ending the threat of the ritual going out of control.
Channary moves and starts to heal the group up, getting people back to full health.
As the raging ritual starts to come to a close, Harly pipes up. "Tavvar! The ritual has calmed down. Tell us what to do! You didn'T get us killed and if you give us guidance we can make sure this ends safely!"
The head of the group finally looks at the flaw she'd been controlling and with an unusual twist of her fingers, closes it. She then moves to further aid her assistants with their own flaws, finishing the doomed ritual for good.
She looks up at the group. "Thank-you, uh, Pathfinders? I take it? You saved my aides' and my lives. We would have definitely perished and it would have been all my fault. Now, can I ask why you came here just in the nick of time?"
The researcher's face blanks as she looks down dejected. "I thought I could possibly do this. I made sure to get competent assistants. Test every part of the ritual, but when push came to shove... I failed. I guess I'm not good enough to do actual rituals. I'm sorry to have engaged you in it. My assistants were supposed to run at the first sign of danger and I didn't know you were even in the building..."
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Channary watches the room, not sure what to think of the happenings. She looks at everyone else, who are seemingly at ease now? Confused, she approaches Tavvar or anyone else who might seem to know what they are doing.
"Sory for being confused, but what are you attempting here, exactly? I get it - you thought it was too hot in the city and were just summoning extra shadows.", she fakes a smile and immediately stops, her face turning into an annoyed one instead.
"Do you even KNOW what you are doing?"
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"Luckily we did stop by when we did. I know, sometimes we all get in over our heads. Yes, we are Pathfinders, and you must have a guardian angel!"
Checking everyone for wounds, he then continues as if he just had an idea. "You know, our friends are very learned folk, and I suspect the Pathfinder libraries could be of much benefit to you. Why don't you come back with us? I can introduce you around, and you can find others that can certainly help you be better prepared for your next endeavor. What do you say?"
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Rogar somehow manages to cross his absurdly thick arms over his barrel chest, scowling in thought. This woman nearly got several people killed by her arrogance, and the thought of her ever performing a ritual of any kind in the future makes his blood run cold with fury.
But the others have a point. At least the Pathfinders have people who can babysit her, make sure she doesn't get any more innocents caught in the crossfire of her failed experiments.
He nods at Tavvar. "I agree. You should go to the Pathfinders. For everybody's safety."
Channary watches the room, not sure what to think of the happenings. She looks at everyone else, who are seemingly at ease now? Confused, she approaches Tavvar or anyone else who might seem to know what they are doing.
"Sory for being confused, but what are you attempting here, exactly? I get it - you thought it was too hot in the city and were just summoning extra shadows.", she fakes a smile and immediately stops, her face turning into an annoyed one instead.
"Do you even KNOW what you are doing?"
Tavvar actually gets a little annoyed at the comment, a small flash of anger in her eyes for a second, before she calms down some. "I was working on a ritual to create partially real shadow illusion manifestations of the memories from people, places, and things. Allow people to show what they've experienced to others without the potential risks of harming either party like some of the current mind to mind spells."
She pauses and ponders Dengar, Eldon and Rogar's suggestions. "Hrmm, the Pathfinders might be able to help point out where the flaws in this were, and if there's agents around half as competent as you, we'd probably be very safe if things went wrong. That sounds like a good idea." She nods and agrees to follow you back to the Grand Lodge, after she and her Aides clean up the room that is.
The cleaning takes very little time, Tavvar was conscientious enough to pull the ritual drawings on a giant canvas cloth allowing her to just pull up the corners and bundle everything away. Moving the furniture back into place and scrubbing some of the shadow residue off the walls is about all that needs to be done.
After an hour the woman is sat down in front of Zarta Draleen, the Head Archivist, with a cup of chamomile tea and is talking animatedly about possible ways to improve the ritual.
The group decides that it's late and they should rest for the night before trying any further explorations.
You all head back to wherever in the city you stay, whether it be at the general dorms for Pathfinders in the Grand Lodge or some other accommodation. After a good night's rest, everyone meets back up in front of the Grand Lodge.
Channary fixes up her small negative energy burn and notices the two dwarves in the party are also burned themselves.
Eldon suggests a morning on the open sea, well semi-open given the harbor and nature of the Flotsam Graveyard.
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Rogar snorts at Channary's comment. "Ayuh, we also sprout fully-formed from giant rocks, don'tcha know." He gives her what might be a wink and might also be a wince as she wraps his ribs.
--
The next morning, Rogar spends several minutes secluded from the others as he prays to his ancestors for strength and guidance, then joins the others in the commons room at Skyreach before heading out. "Been a bit since I was on a ship," he says jovially. He's in rare spirits; even a wrecked ship is a ship, and he misses the slow sway of the sea under his legs. He grabs a handful of bacon to eat on the road, the hot grease cooling until almost frozen in his grip. He breaks off stiff bacon chunks with his teeth and chews with significantly more force than he'd have needed if he'd just eaten the bacon hot, but his cheerful visage certainly doesn't drop from such a minor setback. "Shall we?"
Meeting at the Grand Lodge, the group has to send word ahead to the boat and ferryman that Calisro gave you details for. Heading to the Docks district, you get a runner back saying they're currently running a boat tour of the harbor for some visiting delegates and can pick you up in a few hours.
Ohh you looked! :P
Eldon, smelling faintly of coffee and fresh washed skin, finds the dock hands pretty talkative. They mention something 'not quite human' with odd marks on its body and even a tentacle on the wreck out that has been washed onto a reef of other ships. The thing seems to leap over things and run below decks with surprising speed as soon as it sees anyone, though. Seemed to be scared of anyone finding it, but curious as well.
Loka, smelling faintly of pickle juice, also has some luck with asking around the docks, hearing about the wreck appearing after a storm one night and even the same creature as Eldon, but the small fishing vessel captain claims the thing wasn't skittish at all, and instead aggressive. They point to a hole in the side of the boat they're patching up and claim the thing 'spat a ball of acid' when they came in closer to get a good look. They start to rant about how someone ought to put the monstrosity down.
After two hours or so, a well appointed row boat pulls up to the docks and a a cheerful rainkin half-orc with sun-dark skin and thick braids of black hair adorned with gold rings hops out, extending a hand. "The Pathfinders, I presume. Doubt few others would be as motely and still well dressed! Anyways I'm Captain Semiri Balogog, call me Semiri or Cap'n if you want, and I'll be your shuttle today."
She loads everyone into the boat and starts to row with he strong arms. "Take us about 15 minutes to get to the wreck, while I'm rowing why don't you tell me about some missions? Been rowing Pathfinders for over a decade and I never get tired about hearing all the places you go."
She listens with rapt attention to any stories you feel like sharing before she pulls alongside a moderate sized sailing ship that looks like a ghost ship risen from the deep, covered in drying and dead algae and barnacles on all of the surfaces. The captain pulls alongside, avoiding the ship reef below and tosses a rope to hold her ship steady. A rope ladder soon follows and Semiri settles back down into the front of her ship. "I ain't the adventuring type, but I'll want to hear all about what you find on there."
The weathered boards of the ship’s main deck are cracked, warped, and thoroughly covered in a thick, stinking carpet of algae, seaweed, and barnacles. The sodden mess squashes and scrapes underfoot, while squawking gulls circle overhead. The ship once boasted three masts, but they are now broken off only a few feet above the jagged railings. Whatever other distinguishing features might have once existed on this vessel are either long lost or utterly obscured. Empty doorways lead into cabins to the fore and aft, and a dark opening descends into the lower level.
You realize there are scrapes and skids where one or multiple people or things have been walking on the deck of the ship.
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Once the party navigates Flotsam, Channary boards the deck and looks around. She notices something on the floor. Scratches?
"Hey ummm - see this?", she points towards the blemish in the planks. "Something was here recently. Otherwise it would be grown over."
She puts her walking stick in hand, and looks around a little more. "Place smells like a fish orgy."
She doesn't seem to mind the smell. Just points it out as she walks towards the lifeboat to see if anything interesting can be found.
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Dengar nervously sits in the boat, rather quiet. As the half-orc asks for stories, he shrugs. "Ain't been a pathfinder for long. Most my life was spent in the mines, gathering ore for the family business. And business was good, until them corporate greedy types got involved. Take the ancient land from my clan through legal trickery and lies. Some day, they will see justice... but today we better concentrate on this ship!"
At the mention of undead pirates, Dengar snaps to attention. "Undead pirates? Really? Well, we ain't the ones that sank 'em! Make sure they know that..."
The dwarf pulls out a holy symbol and makes sure it is showing on his chest. "I wonder if I should fasten this to the front of my shield?"
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The half orc raises an eyebrow at Eldon. She clears her throat. "Given the previous topic of discussion, I'm not sure whether I like where this line of questioning might be headed."
She pauses. "But yes - I did spend some of my time in this life as a small animal. A rat, a cat, a mid-sized lizard... List goes on."
Another pause, this time she looks around. "Yes, fish too. But not for THAT. I love plants and animals of the world, and I swore an oath to protect them. Not mate with them. You know the saying - 'Walk a mile in one's shoes' - You spend some time as a creature to find out what are their struggles, then try to help with that aspect."
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Rogar's chipper mood for the morning is only slightly dampened by the horrifying disease beginning to tear through his body.
On the deck of the ship, he coughs once into his hand, scowls, and adds, "I've always said, you should love your pets, just don't love your pets." With that nugget of... wisdom?... he heads down the stairs with Lokaloka so she isn't going anywhere alone. He has Skeggøx drawn but keeps it resting on his shoulder so as not to startle anyone they might meet into thinking he's on the offensive.