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As the situation in the room quickly devolves to its inevitable violent conclusion, Jayma wonders if she did the right thing by remaining in the shadows. Perhaps it would have been better if she'd come forward to try and sweet talk some information out of Raetullus. They needed to find the count and he was clearly not in this room. She hoped they would find him unharmed in another section of the dungeon because she suspected that none of their opponents would survive this encounter to help them with their search.
She sighs. There was nothing for it now but to finish this fight as quickly as possible. As with the devils upstairs, she once again strikes her staff on the ground and a concentrated ball of electricity forms in her palm. It crackles and rumbles like impossibly distant thunder as she spends a little extra time gathering more and yet more energy from her surroundings to increase the power of the charge. Finally, she flings it at Tascio Raetullus and says, "Naughty knight needs nasty knock."
Hornbori charges in and strikes Tascio and a guard with his two well-aimed strikes. Well-visible splashes of blood decorate the floor.
Jayma gathers electricity that she throws in the shape of a sphere at Tascio. The ball hits him square in the chest.
Arfsnarf gathers a ball of fire and sends it at Tascio, but he misses. He wonders what to do as something begins to burn his torso, it is that cursed wand that they found that started to radiate heat.
Then he protects himself with a shield of energy.
Tasio grimace in pain and then he takes a step forward to flank the dwarf, with a bit of flourish he strikes him with his rapier
The hellknight smiles and attacks with his main gauche trying to disarm Hornbori
The other guard attacks Hornbori with his club
Blood spills on Hornbori's face and he hesitates for a moment.
The other guard goes towards Emdi and strikes him
Round 1 - Of a hunter and a prey
Hornbori -33 (42/75) | -2 penalty to attack frightened 1
Jayma
Arfsnarf
Sir Tascio -45
Interrogator Blue
Interrogator Green -14
Emdi -11 (57/68) frightened 1
Symeon
Itka hidden
???
Symeon looks at Sir Tascio, looking for weaknesses
+11 for Society; +9 for Arcana, Crafting, Medicine, Occultism, Nature, Academia Lore, or Surgery Lore; +7 for Religion.
Itka strides into the room, she sends her spell to aid Emdi and hexes Tascio.
But he is unaffected, years of living in a devil-infested country could have something to do with that.
Emdi moves towards Hornbori and as he steps the interrogator hits him with the club
Smashing him really hard. Emdi continues his stroll, reassuring Hornbori. Then he shots twice but both of his arrows miss.
Symeon sends an arrow at Sir Tascio hitting him in the leg. His other arrow misses. He does not recall much about Hellknights.
Then Sabina stands up and her appearance changes slightly, she steps towards Hornbori and strikes him with her club
But misses.
Round 2 - Of a hunter and a prey
Hornbori -33 (42/75) | -2 penalty to attack
Jayma
Arfsnarf
Sir Tascio -53
Interrogator Blue reaction used
Interrogator Green -14
Emdi -24 (44/68)
Symeon
Itka hidden
White fort guard
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Jayma winces as the blows rain down so effectively on Hornbori and Emdi. Tascio's evil minions were tougher than they looked. She considers her next move; both her weakening magical energies and the distance to her target limited her options. She decided to fall back on an old favorite that had served her well in several recent missions.
Closing her eyes in concentration, a strange blue light envelops her hands as she reaches out with her mind to pull the dampness from the surrounding stones. Water droplets form on the sweating surfaces of the nearby blocks and are immediately pulled away to join an ever increasing ball of water floating in the air before her. When she is satisfied, Jayma lets out a "soggy sphere smacks scoundrel" and the ball shoots forward to smash itself against the infernal hellknight.
Jayma is a little frustrated to see Tascio still standing after the beating he's received so far. In her irritation, she says "dart damages devil devotee" and pounds her staff once into the ground. A dart of force appears in her open hand and streaks toward the hellknight.
She speaks the word, "protect," and the space around her shimmers for a moment.
Arfsnarf sends a ball of flame that hits Tascio who falls to the ground motionless.
Jayma sends a blast of water pushing the interrogator away from Symeon, then she protects herself with a shield.
Round 2 - Of a hunter and a prey
Hornbori -33 (42/75) | -2 penalty to attack | guidance
Jayma
Arfsnarf
Sir Tascio -53
Interrogator Blue -10 reaction used
Interrogator Green -14
Emdi -24 (44/68)
Symeon
Itka hidden
White fort guard
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Hornbori, heartened by the presence of Emmdi at his back, continues to attack, breaking into a dwarven battle song.
"Down through the valley
From black night's carnage
The dawn is lighted
By legends calling
Of golden armor
The axe of honor
Waking the mettle
In every heart!"
"It is indeed like that you wretched excuse for a soul! Hornbori of the dwarves is upon you!"
Hornbori swings his axe taking the head of the interrogator.
The other enemy dodges the hit but looks at the other guard worried. Soon the other guard.
Sir Tascio lays on the ground slain when the commotion ends you can hear sound from within one of the iron maiden. When opened you can see a tied woman. When released, she looks at you surprised,
"Who are you? Where you hired to free me?" she asks
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As the group moves in to rescue the woman, Symeon starts to hang out at the side of Hornbori, stitching up his wounds as the rest of the group chats with her.
"Hornbori, don't make any big sudden movements and this should be okay. I've given you a local anesthesia so it shouldn't hurt but you could tear something if you don't warn me."
He gives a smile at the woman, "Don't mind me, I'm just a surgeon and I want to make sure these wounds don't start to fester. Pay me no mind"
As Arfsnarf yells for the guard to stop, Itka's hurl of a nasty-looking hammer takes the guard down. So he stops. As Arfsnarf wanted.
The woman looks at the Symeon work and comments "His whole left side is shutting down, when he smiles it is only half of his face doing anything. I don't know if that matters doc."
She looks at Emdi and nods her head "Yeah, We were captured when we met in Southgate Inn, my name is Sabina Malatesta. I am part of Glorious Reclamation, Count Varian Jeggare helped us couple of times despite our differences. After we were captured, some mercenaries took him away to another location per the orders of some woman called 'Aydrian Thrune'. I am not certain but they did mention the place 'Delvehaven."
She looks around and seems worried "My Armor, I don't know how much time will we have, but Hellknights will come here. I know that there are tunnels north from here that can lead outside of the place. We tried to find the way to those dungeons couple of times." She puts the armor and leads you through some not that big tunnels to the north...
You go through dump tunnels that quite frequently change their direction. In the beginning, you hear someone chasing you but very quickly you realize that the echo can play tricks in there, and those might be your own footsteps. After wading through water and withstanding a terrible smell you find your way out.
With no better idea, you head to Southgate inn. You meet with Nan who was already packing "I will have to leave this place sooner than lather, hell knights will come to investigate. I will not be able to land on my feet so I probably would have to change my identity and move to a different place." says
Sabina had not much more to say, she slept a couple of hours withstanding horrors in the castle dungeons.
After resting through the night Benedet shows up "I heard you did not find Count Varian" he rather states the fact than asks.
"I got some information from Radovan Virholt, he is Count's bodyguard who was away doing some errands for Count Varian. When he learned of him missing he began to look for him, but that is all that I know. He is a tiefling."
Benedet also offers aid in sending reports back to Pathfinders with your findings.
Benedet listens to your questions "I don't know where Radovan is, he sends me a letter that he will conduct a search on his own."
"I hoped that Virholt will show up earlier and you will be able to meet him. But it does not seem to be the case..."
"Does it matter that he is a tiefling? No, yes, maybe. It may help you recognize him, otherwise, a goblin could come up and claim that he is Radovan Virholt. " Benedet smiles to Arfsnarf
Then he sits down and thinks for a moment about Emdi's question
"Well Aydrian Thrune is a distant relative of the Empress. That could mean that situation is direr than we fought. Oh, poor Excellency!"
"Delvehaven, there is an old abandoned Pathfinder Lodge called Delvehaven in the city of Westcrown. I think that might mean you have to travel to Westcrown to check for leads there. I can send a message to Pathfinder Society if you would like to report on your progress, his Excellency had a contact to whom a couple of times I passed secret letters."
Nan's speaks up
"The following day I will depart with a caravan towards Westcrown, I will leave it along the way, but you could join me. "
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Jayma turns to the group. "If the count is possibly being held in Delvehaven then we need to go there and find out. We don't have any other leads as to his possible whereabouts. If we run into this Aydrian Thrune person then we will deal with her like we would with any other devil lover that gets in our way." She almost spits on the ground at this last remark, but properly brought up princesses don't do such things.
She faces Nan. "As you are heading that way, I think it would be an excellent idea for us to accompany you and provide the caravan with some security from the dangers of the road." She she looks back at the rest of the group to gauge their reaction to her suggested course of action.
At dawn you depart with the caravan, pretending once again to be guards of the caravan. The previous day you prepared the letter hoping that Benedet truly can pass it to society.
The journey to Westcrown is mostly uneventful, a couple of days before you reach the city Nan's departed to stay at a friend's house in some small town.
The day before reaching Westcrown a courier finds you on a rode and gives letters to a caravan, you are surprised that some of them are addressed to you.
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Jayma shrugs off the whole fortune-telling episode with Arfsnarf. She wasn't particularly religious and superstition didn't play a big part in her make up. As far as the gods and their whims were concerned, she was a stoic. If they wanted to make things difficult for her then so be it; she loved nothing more than a good challenge. "Bring it on gods of fortune. I'm ready for you."
When they receive the note and map, Jayma can't help but be impressed. "That was quick." She frowns as she reads the note. "Looks like we'll need to go easy on Aydrian Thrune if we run into her." She doesn't look happy at being hobbled in this way. It was the Thrunes and their minions that had chased her out of her comfortable life in Cheliax and the chance to pay them back, if only in a small way, was something she'd been looking forward to.
Still scowling slightly, she says, "Let's go find this safehouse first, before we head to Delvehaven."
You leave the caravan and head towards the safehouse, you make few turns and quickly find the place.
A shadowy staircase leads down from a narrow alley overlooked by boarded up windows. After a turn, the staircase leads to a plain wooden door. The door opens to a candlelit chamber with stone walls and a concave ceiling. At the opposite end, fresh flowers surround a slightly cracked statue of Aroden. Well-worn wooden benches fill the chamber, and an empty lectern stands to the left of the statue. The dimly lit interior is welcoming and clean of dust.
The shrine seems empty, but it is obvious that someone takes care of it. When you check the There’s a place under the lectern with a leather bag containing 6 moderate healing potions.
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Jayma claims one of the potions for herself and hands out the others. Twyl pokes his head out of her sleeve. She takes him in her arms, sits on one of the benches and starts petting him. "Poor Twyl. No one the play with." While distracting her familiar, Jayma tries to remember what she's heard of Delvehaven.
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Itka glances around the shrine, wondering who lit candles and how long ago it was. "Hmp." Well, perhaps she should accept that this safehouse is actually safe. They have enough worries already. She eases down beside Jayma and begins pondering, working her jaw as if chewing cud while she dredges her mind for information on Delvehaven.
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It seems to be a quiet moment. Akti pokes his little nose out of Itka's pocket and smells predator. But there's a slightly different quality to the scent, like something just beyond the ken of his nose. He recognizes it as the same difference he gained when that terrible god chose him to give Itka magic. This predator is clearly a familiar, so it may, possibly, not eat him. And he does *so* want to talk to someone about, well, lots of things and nothing really. Itka's pocket is safe, but it's lonely most of the time. With a deep breath, the black rat works up his courage and emerges from Itka's pocket. He looks the predator right in the eyes, tensed and ready to scurry back to safety, and waits to see what will happen.
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Twyl is relaxing and feeling safe in the hands of his mistress when he catches some motion out of the corner of his half-closed eyes. He freezes as he stares into the eyes of a rat. His body tenses as he considers whether trying to fly away, or dive back into his mistress's sleeves, was the best way to escape this danger.
His mistress notices the change and looks up. She then soothes Twyl through their empathetic connection. "Everything's fine. It's just Itka's friend; like you and me." Twyl relaxes. Ah yes, so it was. He remembers seeing the same rat when they were travelling in the wagon; it was the strange-looking crone's friend; not a danger. After another moment of eyeing each other, Twyl lifts one of his odd human-like hands. He waves at the rat and chirps a greeting. He wonders if it wants to be friends.
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Symeon takes his time to set up another halfling slave disguise and uses that to get out about the town, taking in all the details and snippits of society that people are only comfortable saying when no one (minus the 'help') is around.
Coming back from the streets he starts a small fire and starts to boil some water. "Anyone else want to wash up. I know that I put some grime on for the disguise, but this place makes me feel dirtier than before."
Symeon, Itka and Jayma begin to recall what they could have read about Delvehaven, comparing rumors, recollections and and other clue that they may have.
You recall reading a brief description of Delvehaven in an old journal. The lodge faces a bluff overlooking the Adivian River. There’s a tall stone wall that surrounds the lodge and the sizable courtyard around it. The ground floor is sprawling compared to the more constrained upper floor.
You also recall that 10 years ago, a group of adventurers entered Delvehaven in search of an artifact held in a vault in the basement. The basement would certainly be the most secure location to keep someone captive.
Jayma very quickly leaves with the others to find some information on the streets with Arfsnarf, Emdi and Hornbori. You split and head to taverns, talk to beggars, fortune tellers and merchants. After an hour you come back to compare what you've learned
You bump onto some really nice, old lady that shares a story with you "You know what, I heard that when Aroden was alive, everything was better. Cows gave more milk, there was enough work and bread for everyone, I tell you that young boy, whoever would pray to Aroden he wound find a bag of golden coins. I tell you that, what good are devils if I can't get a bag of gold, Aroden that was times. Let me tell you that story when my grand-grand-grand-grandmother prayed for a good husbands..."
When you asked about Delvehaven a young delivery girl scratches her head, "I don’t think people go to that stretch of the road much, the surf makes an awful lot of noise and it’s a bit spooky, though I guess you seem like a person that would fit right in there. Well, I got to be on my way!" She run away
When you asked around about Delvehaven you heard a few tales told by some drunkards about a group of thieves that broke in there a couple of days ago, and apparently, hellknights are securing the place from thereon.
You find a stall with a fortune-teller, who promises you to tell you a thing about Delvehaven "Let me look into your cards, Yes I have a fool, two forks, and a sacred tree. You will lose money while looking for food there, so finally you will get fruit from the tree in the courtyard but it will be poisonous. "
Soom Jayma, Afrsnarf, Emdi and Hornbori come back.
A cloaked figure appears in the doorway and steps into the shrine. The candlelight plays off her long red hair and amber eyes, and she holds her empty hands visible as a sign of peace. Her sonorous voice echoes in the chamber. "Is it a praying circle? You don't look like one." she laughs warmly
"I mean you no harm Pathfinders, nor does Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail II of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune, who has sent me here to inform you of her will." She looks at you
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Jayma returns to the safehouse and tells the others what she's learned. "I heard that a group of thieves broke into Delvehaven a couple of days ago and that some hellknights then showed up to secure the place. Maybe they brought the count with them."
When the strange cloaked figure appears in the doorway, Jayma sends Twyl into her sleeve and flips the hood up to hide her features. She starts gathering magical energy into herself in preparation for spellcasting, but pauses when the woman speaks. When she hears that the woman was sent by Queen Abrogail II, she pulls her head deeper into her hood and turns it to one side. She decides to let the others do the talking in case the woman recognizes her.
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"There's an old woman who told me that people used to pray to the statue of Aroden and they'd get bags of golden coins!"
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Emdi holds his palms open back towards their visitor. "My name is Emdi, we are not gathered here for the purpose of praying, although we do pray individually. My fealty is for the Eternal Rose, I seek peace, love, unity, and respect for all."
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Itka glowers at the paladin. "Hmp. That won't gain you any favors from Her Infernal Majestrix, Emdi." Saying nothing isn't lying, straight lace. Hmp!
She returns her sharp eyes to the newcomer. Hmp. No point in denying we're Pathfinders; we wouldn't be able to pull it off. She keeps her mouth shut for now, not wanting to sour things with someone who could very well ruin their chances of achieving their objective. Instead, she nods respectfully and guardedly at the woman and waits to see what will happen.
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Arfsnarf is happily focused on the fortune teller that he meets. He's (annoyingly) constantly telling the man in the stall about his own talents and showing off the clacky-rock. The man is not impressed.
He's so delighted that he almost forgets to tell his friends what he learned.
Oh yeah, if a tree in the courtyard has fruit... don't eat it!
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When the woman arrives...
Arfsnarf doesn't pray, he finds his fortune!
He waits for several awkward moments before finally asking.
So what is queen's will? Did she leave us something in it?