Shade drops to his knees, praying, "Praise Desna!" as the vile creature finally succumbs to her healing touches.
After a while, he stands up and dusts himself off, and starts healing everyone else, since his healing bursts have already healed all of his own wounds.
Seeing Pavo struggling with the vile poison, Shade makes his way over to Pavo, and attempts to treat poison.
He then quickly treats Pavo's wounds. "Feel better, Pavo." he says in a gentle voice.
Phaed collapses. I'd search but…it hurts…
Once everyone has been healed up, Shade helps to completely search the room, not giving up until he has found the Starless Scope. He is sure that he will find it here.
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Abella goes and dramatically stabs the down creature a few times, as if doing a dance, then stabs a few more times. ”Oh this thanergy construct has experienced a thanergy collapse, most assuredly. You see, when a thanergy construct is created, all of the thalergetic—thalergy being “positive energy” in common parlance—connectors are reversed in an ad hoc method to become thanergetic receptors. The body’s entire system of processing energy has to be rewritten, too, into a self-sustaining circuit. This process is excruciating and traumatic and thus cannot be done more than once. Once the thanergy weave has collapsed, it burns out all the receptors, and the only way to restore them is to return the person to life with thalergy, thus restoring the receptors to their original state. At which point, one could start the whole process over again. And that is all much more complicated if you get into incorporeal thanergy constructs.”
Phaed peers into the mirror, adjusting her escoffion while Abella lectures everyone about thanergy.
Yes, yes, thanergy,
Can we thanergy this corpse out of my home?
As Pavo considers the deadness of the creature and Abella discusses thanergy and thalergy, a few of the creature's leg twitch seemingly involuntarily.
Phaed peers into the starscape within the mirror and must make a DC 41 Will save!
She may also make a Perception check or an Astronomy Lore check.
Phaed stares, and stares…
Phaed feels something looking back at her from the dark places between the stars, and she becomes frightened! She does realize though, that the stars reflected in the mirror are not those she is familiar with in the skies above Golarion.
While the room is devastated, it contains Xarwin’s notes and books, which have remained intact. With an hour’s work, these materials can be gathered and organized into a small collection that can be used to Research the Dominion of the Black, the Order of the Starless Night, the starless scope, the Void Mirror, and Tchekuth.
Looking through the books, Shade discovers two things of note: a formula for a retracting roof and a set of detailed drawings, that at first appear to be a set of star charts, but then reveal themselves to be the proper method to open the Cosmic Crypt!
Tuco, while searching the rubble in the room finds three more items of value: a copper astrolabe set with garnets and amethysts, a traveler’s any-tool, and a conical tube that must be the hearing module for the brainclock!
Five voidglass kukris lie amid the remains of the dead grioths.
Perhaps the greatest treasure in this room though is the Void Mirror, which will take many hours of study, as well as a strong mind, to fully understand.
With the undead monster defeated, an undefinable pall lifts from the manor.
Even Ezramalkun seems to sense it when you return to the kitchen. She chats with you excitedly, eager to learn about your endeavors.
”I was never brave enough to explore the observatory myself. Not while those bad birds were in the way. I’m so glad I sent you. You can clearly do what I and those who came before me cannot.”
Tuco shakes his head "Wait... there's more. We've recovered the relics, why not just leave?"
"But the Starless Scope?" whines Shade.
That night, Phaed dreams of her ancestor in her private room.
I've defeated the enemy you couldn't!
She also feels a deeper connection to Erazmalkin and the Psychomomps, learning the language of the Boneyard. Don't worry, Abella dear, I won't become a spoilsport just because I learned their language.
That evening, Shade dreams about the void mirror.
Shade dreams of Xarwin standing before the Void Mirror at all hours of the day and seemingly directing the image within with his hands.
Shade realizes that the starscape presented by the Void Mirror is any view of the night sky possible from its current physical location, regardless of time of day. The point of view can be shifted through hand gestures, causing the scene within the mirror to reorient in any direction desired.
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Meanwhile...
Phaed dreams of Ioseff turning away visitors and inquiries at the door, and writing replies that, regrettably, his wife and children have left him, and that unfortunately, he didn’t know where they had gone or how to reach them.
She also sees Ioseff seated at a desk across from what appears to be a doctor or professor of some sort. Ioseff is explaining something and signing some documents while behind him Fulvia is being led down a long hall by two nurses. Fulvia isn’t struggling. She seems quite sedate as she explains to the nurses how they’re all simply morsels for the coming banquet.
While Phaedria sleeps in the master bedroom, the glowing orb of ectoplasm watches over her until it suddenly vanishes. No sooner does it disappear than the ghost of Xarwin rises from the floor!
He leans over and touches Phaed while she sleeps!
+
"You've done well to destroy that creature. Now I am free!" He laughs!
The painful touch wakes Phaed, and she may act!
Ioseff
Phaed
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She also sees Ioseff seated at a desk across from what appears to be a doctor or professor of some sort. Ioseff is explaining something and signing some documents while behind him Fulvia is being led down a long hall by two nurses. Fulvia isn’t struggling. She seems quite sedate as she explains to the nurses how they’re all simply morsels for the coming banquet.
In her dream, Ioseff turns and smiles at Phaed. He keeps smiling when he stands up and crawls over the desk. He follows her through the house, getting closer no matter how fast she runs. He never stops smiling. Finally, she makes it to her master bedroom. She ducks under the covers and cowers. For several minutes, it's perfectly quiet. Maybe Ioseff went away. Then his hand darts under the sheets and grabs her ankle — it burns!
Her own blood-curdling howls wake her up. Phaed can't even breathe when she sees Ioseff right there — just like in her dream. She falls out of bed, dragging the sheets with her as she stumbles to the corner of the room and scrabbles for the rapier she left on the dresser. NO NO NO. You're dead! You're dead! You're dead!
Despite waking up in a panic on seeing the ghost of Ioseff at the edge of her bed, Phaed fortifies herself against his touch and her memories are not stolen.
"You don't have what I want."
The ghost chuckles as it slowly sinks into the floor and is gone.
The clock in the hall chimes four, but Phaed may be too frightened to return to sleep.
The rapier clatters out of Phaed's hands. She slumps to the floor, too exhausted to think about ghosts.
Maybe it was a dream? She sees the handprint burned into her ankle. She tries to soothe herself before her friends come barging in.
Then she covers it up.
Unfortunately, Pavo is not quite able to focus on Tchekuth while he sleeps, but he does dream of the observatory and gets the sense that the undead creature there was somehow keeping Ioseff from fully manifesting.
Abella turns her research to the manor itself, realizing they have done little investigation on that front.
She dreams on that subject as well during the night.
Abella learns that the workers who vanished during the construction of the manor were those hired to build the basement.
These workers disappeared while looking for hidden chambers below the manor said to have been built eons ago by the Order of the Starless Night!
That night Abella focuses on the manor, and she dreams of a Cellar, a Scriptorium, and the Family Crypt.
In the morning, Phaed's shoulders slump. She yawns at breakfast with Erazmalkun and leans over the bowl, practically falling asleep.
She relates her dream about Ioseff and Fulvia and listens to the droning thrushes outside.
Erazmalkun, do you eel better now that the bad birds are gone from the upstairs?
She sticks a fork into at her fried SPAM (Sorcerously Processed Animal Matter).
Where to today?
Tuco scratches his head "I don't like any of the answers... Basement I guess."
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"Desna has warned me that there is nothing but trouble waiting for us in that crypt in the woods," Pavo says. "We will need to learn more about what Ioseff set free in there before we go there. The cellars, on the other hand, are probably completely ghost free and full of wine, which I could use to help me study."
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Ezramalkun looks toward the cellar doors in the southwest corner of the kitchen.
"Be careful if you head down there. I can sense those bad dogs down there."
Phaed nods and thanks Erazmalkun in Requian. You know, I think that shall be the official language of Phaedria Manor. I'll never have to speak another language every again, for I shell never leave!
The old wooden stairs to the cellar creak loudly when trod upon.
Partially collapsed wooden shelves turn this brick-walled room into something of a maze. Where the shelves still stand, dried food, dusty firewood, and other ancient kitchen supplies remain, but elsewhere, only collapsed piles of wood and rubble can be found. The northern wall has a fireplace amid the shelves.
Shade and Phaedria get the uncanny sense that something is hiding down here...
Phaed moves in.
Pavo steps carefully down the old, wooden stairs, and is able to do so without making a sound!
Tuco heads down as well, his shield out and his eyes darting about looking for danger.
Shade follows, detecting magic as he goes.
Hmmph. Come out. No need to hide! Phaed moves deeper in the room, defending.
Phaedria moves further into the cellar like she owns the place, until two strange dog-like creatures with heads like crocodile skulls, hiding invisibly, pounce and attack! Their eye sockets drip with blood!
???1
???2
But all their attacks miss!
???1
???2
Abella
Pavo
Shade
Tuco
Phaedra
Tuco moves up and instead of focusing with Pavo spreads out to help keep the dogs from flanking them as he opens with a tatsu against #2.
Unfortunately, Pavo's strike misses, but Tuco manages to land a blow on #2!
???1
???2 -10
Abella
Pavo
Shade
Tuco
Phaedra
You add a flourish to your composition to extend its benefits. If your next action is to cast a cantrip composition with a duration of 1 round, attempt a Performance check. The DC is usually a standard-difficulty DC of a level equal to the highest-level target of your composition, but the GM can assign a different DC based on the circumstances. The effect depends on the result of your check.
Critical Success The composition lasts 4 rounds.
Success The composition lasts 3 rounds.
Failure The composition lasts 1 round, but you don't spend the Focus Point for casting this spell.
She then steps into a flank with Pavo and tries to stab it!
Shade moves in to help.
Phaed strikes creature #1, but does very little damage...
Shade catches up to the rest of the party.
???1 -3
???2 -10
Abella
Pavo
Shade
Tuco
Phaedra
Crocodile Dog #1 attempts to bite and claw Phaedria, but can't connect with the masked heiress!
Crocodile Dog #2 attacks Tuco, and takes a big bite out of the monk's arm!
+
critical failure) as rot spreads throughout their flesh.
+
+
Crocodile Dog #1 -3
Crocodile #2 -10
Abella
Pavo
Shade
Tuco
Phaedra
Tuco drops low into his stance, takes a step over and tries to help finish off #1.
First, Shade tries to recall what these things are!