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"Yeah, again, no." says Shade. "The Song of Spheres protects her own."
He then casts a spell, and a spiritual starknife flies from his hands to attack Yianyin!
He then casts guidance on Pavo.
"Desna guide your hand, Pavo!"
Abella has had to deal with Iosef enough now that she is physically prepared to fight back his horrifying touch.
”How many times do we need to teach you this lesson, old man?”
She keeps controlling Babs, focusing still on keeping the psychopomp busy, while she tries to deal with her persistent stalker.
She charges her hand with a disorienting burst of thanergy and thrusts her palm at the ghost’s face.
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Phaed sends a rock slamming into Yianyin, Tuco, despite his confusion, hits Yianyin with a punch, but it is the spiritual starknife of Desna that finally destroys the corrupted psychopomp.
Here, surrounded by the carvings of ancient Desnans, it is only fitting that Desna would answer Shade's call.
Pavo follows up with an arrow for good measure.
In the narrow tunnel, Xarwin is unaffected by Abella's burst of thanergy, and with Yianyin destroyed he seem less interested in fighting.
"Don't keep me waiting," he says before disappearing through the tunnel wall.
The woman in the mask slumps to the floor. She looks at Abella. Who was that ghost you called "old man"? I felt a connection. I think you did too.
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I'm FINE. says the woman in the mask. Then she dramatically collapses to the ground.
Shade process of healing with Pavo. ”You don’t look so good, my friend. ”
With Pavo not on deaths door, Shade will agree to move back up to the kitchen, where he takes the time to heal everyone up.
Ezramalkun is very pleased when you return and askes excitedly about your encounters.
"I sensed those bad dogs moving on. You're accomplishing what so many of us couldn't."
And indeed, come evening, the iron fence surrounding the house fills with nosoi psychopomps. Their eerie singing fill the night, providing a constant companion after dark in the manor grounds.
The woman in the mask slumps to the floor. She looks at Abella. Who was that ghost you called "old man"? I felt a connection. I think you did too.
”Who else? It was the ghostly touchy pervert Iosef unable to keep his hands off me.” She glances away, making sure to not meet Phaed’s eyes. ”What are you babbling about with connections. Why would I have any connection with that worthless imperial toady.”
Tuco shakes the confusion out of his eyes "Wait, what happened there? Everything went all screwy."
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I cannot help but feel there is some connection there, Abella… What do you have that he wants? I don't think the ghost is a pervert… he seemed angry. The woman in the mask slides into a chair. Clearly, she is unhappy someone else has something the ghost wants. Surely whatever it is is amazing and special. And she hates not having it.
She sighs and turns to Erazmalkun. Well, it's good to know we're making some progress here. This house is so lovely. It has good bones. It deserves better. Tell me dear, what was my name again?
Shade takes Phaedria aside for a bit, to help her with her confusions. "You are Phaedria, our inspiration."
He does his best to help her with her issues.
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"Those lovely bones--thank you, Shade--those lovely bones keep trying to kill us, though," Pavo comments as the cleric works on mending his remaining wounds.
After a meal, he heads to the library to study the Order of the Starless Night.
Having had quite enough excitement for one day, he tries to quiet his mind. However, his body works on trying to fight off whatever disease he unknowingly contracted.
"Pavo, my friend, I think that unless we figure out what is going on here, this manor is going to kill us all. Mother Moon grant that we are more successful than this corrupted place."
Shade heads to the library to start some research on a new subject, Asethana Xarwin.
As he dreams that night, he continues thinking about what he has learned.
Tuco spends some time in the Secret Study researching the Ashen Man
Phaedria ? What kind of name is that!?
The woman in the mask tries to research Aesthenna. She was an artist.. I am an artist.
Then she tries to dream of the strange ghost.
Pavo studies the Order and learns:
The Order of the Starless Night pursued an evil astronomer named Tchekuth, who had made contact with the Dominion of the Black. They took a powerful artifact called the Void Mirror from Tchekuth after his defeat and used it against him to ensure he would stay dead.
Shade reads about Asethana:
Asethanna supposedly left her husband, taking her twin children with her and returning to her ancestral home in Egorian in 4656 ar. However, no record of her ever arriving at Egorian exists—she seems to have vanished after this date.
Continuing to think of her, Shade dreams of Asethanna finding a ring bearing a damning inscription—the moment she discovered that Ioseff had an affair and an illegitimate son with Fulvia Nostraema!
She confronts Ioseff in his office, where he takes the ring, puts it on a finger on his left hand, and proclaims, “Fulvia has been the better lover.”
Asethanna uses one of her woodworking hatchets to chop off Ioseff’s left hand! She then flees the office, burns the hand in the washroom fireplace, and enters her painting studio to prepare to leave her husband.
The dream comes to an abrupt end as Ioseff, now one-handed, bursts into the room and blasts Asethanna with tendrils of darkness, then leaves her bleed to death.
Unfortunately, Tuco isn't able to find anything about the enigmatic Ashen Man. And Phaedria isn't able to learn anything about Asethana, but that night Phaed dreams about Ioseff.
Perhaps it is due to her connection with her ancestor, perhaps it is because she tries to intimidate him into confronting her while she dreams, perhaps it is because she has lost her mind, whatever the reason, Phaed comes to understand the three steps necessary to put Ioseff's ghost to rest!
One: Defeat his nemesis the undead brain collector.
Two: Recover the brains of his wife and children so that their souls may move on to the Boneyard.
Three: Return the Void Mirror to the Cosmic Crypt.
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That evening, the woman in the mask prepares a meal in the kitchen. Ezramalkun helps set the table by stabbing cutlery into the wood at each place.
The woman in the mask toys with the tower of butter trays upon which Ezramalkun perches. So, my favorite murder of fiends. Here we sit, with a fine meal. However I must say, I am at somewhat of a loss as to what's going on in my home. It seems as if I am having memory problems. She flutters a gloved hand. Well, it hardly matters: I am perfectly content to stay here forever. In fact, I am considering renaming the place forever friendship manor. What do you think? It's so nice here, except for the ghost. I know how to exorcise him, but why do you think he keeps pestering us? And what's going on with the dreadful decor downstairs? The strange patterns and ectoplasm are simply tacky.
Shade walks behind Phaedria and takes the knives out of the table, and properly sets the table. "So, we've recovered the Starless Scope, and we've killed that undead brain collector, among other things. We should probably deal with that room with the paintings still. We've avoided it since that one time, right?"
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Abella eats messily, having little care for decorum or appearances. She occasionally glares at the psychopomp. ”We know how to deal with Mister Grabby Ghosty hands now, so that is what is most important. As for what is going on, it is clearly very simple. Cheliax McBootlicker made contact with something he should not have and ended with a lot of people dying and being very upset about that. So much concentrated thanergy left to bubble in its own little container for months or years or whatever will always congeal into a fine mess. Like if you leave mold to have its way with a larder of produce.” She takes another mouthful of bread and barely chews it before continuing. ”This is why you do not ask other beings for power or knowledge, especially in the Dark Tapestry. You do what any sensible person would and study the energies themselves and master them. You go ask someone how to get rich quick and they will invariably scam you, but learn the ins-and-outs of economics and you can blow up the economy yourself.”
Tuco rubs his head "I never would have thought one house could be so messed up."
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The woman in the mask is put off by all this disparagement of her home.
Ridiculous. Forever Friendship Manor is the loveliest place in the world. So what if it has a ghost or two? It adds character. I shall never leave.
Ezramalkun cocks her head and listens to the singing nosoi outside.
"Clearing out the corruption has given courage to the noisoi. There are certainly enough to form an algea now!"
We practically got there. the Cosmic Crypt sounds delightful.
"Delightful..." Tuco mumbles sarcastically.
Abella does her research on Fulvia, hoping to fill in some of the gaps in the story.
Abella does succeed in learning more about Fulvia and her research!
As Fulvia neared completion of what she viewed as her masterpiece—a lengthy text she called “Nihilism’s Sacred Garrote”, concerning the religious practices of the Dominion of the Black, she came to suspect that an agent of the Dominion slumbered beneath the very manor, and that its dreams were luring a vast, devouring, black star toward Golarion. She became convinced that this entity and the Dominion intended to offer up Golarion to the lightless star as part of a sacrifice known as the “Banquet.”
You make your way through the woods and again feel as though someone, or something, is watching as you return to the clearing.
A ring of seven ancient standing stones surrounds the Cosmic Crypt, which measures roughly twelve feet in diameter and rises to a height of fifteen feet.
Carvings of moths and butterfly-winged people flying among the stars decorate the crypt’s sides, while its heavy stone slab door is embedded with a series of bronze rings set in grooves. Each of the rings has a single, small disk of differently colored crystals attached to it; at the very center, a larger orb of pale-yellow crystal is affixed to the stone.
Moving the system’s planets around the sun at the center reminds you that there are tens of thousands of possible combinations. Luckily you found the correct combination amongst the detailed drawings in the observatory.
With the help of the detailed drawings, Pavo is able to place the 11 planets in the correct locations.
The heavy slab door grinds down into the ground to reveal a 10-foot diameter space within. No floor exists, instead an open shaft drops 30 feet down into the ground. A series of grooves serve as crude ladder rungs, and a familiar mural of butterfly-like beings adorns the walls.
An intricate frame constructed of silver and iron is affixed to the middle of the ceiling. The frame appears to be built to hold a rectangular object measuring 5 feet long by 1 foot wide and is positioned so that the object aims downward at an angle.
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We shall! It will look lovely there.
"Sounds good to me. What's the worst that can happen?"
Well? Phaed suggests constructing a small scaffold next to the pit and then sliding the mirror into place.
Tuco nods "Scaffolding sounds good."
You work together to place the mirror into the frame! Once in position the mirror reflects an unknown starscape.
The susurrus seems to die down around the manor grounds, while the singing of the whippoorwills only grows!
Shall we explore the other way?