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"Alas, poor Earl. You knew him well." Bella sighs as a dagger draws blood.
"A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he has
borne you on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is!" She gives Orange a very brief eulogy for his fallen ally.
Or she mocks Earl's memory and is clearly annoyed over her injury.
"Oh, everyone's a critic today." She reaches out to put her hand on Orange's shoulder, only to knock him over and trip him instead.
She then Strides back to her sister's side. "Some people don't appreciate the classics."
Though confused as to why everyone's talking about Earl, Nicole keeps her focus on the matter at hand and flings a vial of alchemist's fire at Blue. Apparently Blue must've forgotten his flame-resistant clothes today because the vial hits, shatters, and he becomes a human torch before collapsing to the ground in a fiery, smoking heap.
Bella offers a eulogy for Earl that's frankly wasted on Orange before proceeding to trip him. She then moves back to Khiari's side.
Orange curses as he staggers to his feet and advances on Bella, apparently too brave or too stupid to consider retreat. "Earl and Kenny, they were the best of us! You'll pay!" He clumsy swipes at Bella with his dagger but fails to connect.
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Nicole
Bella
>Khiari
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Orange
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Clover
Stitch
>Meat Wagon
Vardarel
Roark
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Green
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Clover, Stitch + Meat Wagon, Vardarel, Roark are up!
Khiari has a bit of a joke at the robbers' expense while Stitch points out that the whole 'best of us' comment really doesn't paint the remaining pair in the best light. He raises his shield before commanding Meat Wagon to close in on the action.
Roark dashes forward and tumbles right between Orange's legs before popping to his feet and attempting to beak Green, who manages to dodge out of the way.
Vardarel joins his companions and takes aim at Orange with his bow. His arrow flies true and sinks into Orange's chest with a resounding *THOCK*; the robber gurgles with shock and surprise and drops like a stone!
Though it's technically more efficient against more than one foe, Clover-Bot isn't inclined to spend her precious magical reserves on Green. Once more, she sends a jolt of electricity his way...
...but he manages to dodge some of it. Still, he's looking rather bruised and bloodied and like he's had enough of this. "Screw this, I ain't dyin' here!" he hollers as he makes a mad dash for the door, awkwardly going over the nearby table and haphazardly racing past nearly everyone in his bid to get away.
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Nicole
Bella
>Khiari
Clover
Stitch
>Meat Wagon
Vardarel
Roark
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Green
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Everyone is up!
"I guess he wasn't dedicated." Khiari shrugs. "We could chase him but... eh."
Bella and Khiari will ignore the final thief and begin to check the lodge. Where is everyone?
Not particularly inclined to chase after the last fleeing robber, you turn your attention back to the lodge itself. Where'd everyone go? Also, the other three would-be robbers might not actually be dead, now that Stitch thinks about it. He swiftly zips around and manages to stabilize a couple of them. As he does this he also takes the time to search their persons and recovers a couple of mysterious potions. The potions are unusual in that their very essence seems to be in flux as they slowly change color from green, to blue, to yellow, and then to red before repeating the pattern once more.
As Bella and Khiari move towards the door Earl had been standing next to when the party busted in , they hear knocking from the other side as a feminine voice calls out, "H-Hello? Is anyone out there?? Help, I'm locked in!"
While the door's locking mechanism appears to be broken, it looks like the robbers brought their own set of simple-quality locks to re-secure it.
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While Roark and Bella work on the door, Stitch turns his attention to the strange potions and Vardarel keeps the person on the other side of the door talking.
"Lin Selan, or is it Selan Lin in Avistan?" the voice calls back. "Pathfinder of the 4723 AR cohort, currently active at Woodsedge on a project to locate some elemental portals. Whoever those jerks were, they locked me in here!"
It takes a minute or two but Roark is easily able to pop the lock on the door. You open it to reveal a young woman who rather resembles a willow dryad; behind here are rows and rows of shelves filled with books and other paperwork. You hazard a guess that this is an archive of correspondences, administrative paperwork, and manifests of items that have come and gone.
"Oh thank goodness! I'm so happy to see friendly face," Selan exclaims. She looks tired and sports visible injuries from her ordeal. "When I asked those guys who they were, I got punched in the gut for it! Luckily for me they seemed more concerned with ransacking the place than worrying about me and shoved me in here."
Noticing a bit of curiosity from some of you she adds, "Before you guess, no I'm not a dryad. I'm an ardande; an ancestor of mine was a wood genie. I’m a kineticist. Move the elements. Make them into other things or each other. All that exciting stuff."
It's about this time that there's another small commotion and Taiwalei bursts into the room, followed by a couple of guards. "We're here to h-oh, looks like you've already got it handled," he remarks as he looks around at the incapacitated robbers. "I found these two tied up in an outbuilding around back," he explains, indicating the two guards. "I already sent word back to the Grand Lodge to let them know that something was up. They said they'd check on the other lodges and make sure that they're secured."
Vardarel struggles for a moment but then remembers that Woodsedge Lodge is one of the Pathfinder Society's many lodges, located in the city of the same name in southern Galt.
"Problem? Um, no...not that I know of," Selan replies with a curious look. "At least I hope not! This *is* Heidmarch Manor, you're in the right place. I'm...still not really sure where everyone is, though."
"I think most agents and VCs are at the celebration at the Grand Lodge," Taiwalei points out. "That's why they're making sure to secure the other lodges now, in case someone decided to take an opportunity to strike against us while we're distracted." He looks down at the unconscious thugs. "That said, I think this is probably mostly just a coincidence. See their outfits? They belong to the Night Scales; they're a petty thieves guild here in Magnimar. I'd say they just decided to take advantage of the relaxed security here."
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"Woodedge Lodge? Have we been there, sister? We should make the trip at some point." Bella notes while her sister twitches her nose in failed recognition. Bella turns to the woman and bows. "I am Sidare, given name Bella. This is my sister, Khiari. My apologies, but you bear many superficial similarities to dryads. We will have to ask you many questions about wood genies."
"The Night Scales? Hmpf. It's daytime. No wonder they are off their game. Can you stand?" Bella offers a hand. "We should see if they got anything of value from the lodge. Before we... er... handled them."
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"How long were you in here? Are you hungry? Do you need soup?" Clover studies their new companions curiously.
Then she considers. "If Heidmarch Lodge is like the Gold Falls Inn Lodge where I trained, the staff wouldn't all be in Alsalom. Sure, maybe the Heidmarchs themselves are in Absalom, but they would have left trained Pathfinders to guard the place. So where are they?"
"Not very long...maybe no more than half an hour? Not like there was a clock or sundial in there to watch but it didn't feel like it had been too long before I heard all the ruckus you guys made when you got here," Selan answers. "Otherwise, to be honest, I feel awful, thank you." She smiles, clearly in pain. "Could...do...with some healing. And some soup. Is it healing soup? That'd be even better! Oh and could you perhaps find the wisps for me?”
As Clover studies the ardande she's certain that there's no deceit, malicious or otherwise, in Selan's heart. Same for the guards that Taiwalei found; everyone seems to be telling the truth about what's happened.
After her requests, there's a pause and then Selan blinks. "Oh wait, that's right, I've not told you about the wisps, have I? You see, I was babysitting some wisp familiars for my teachers and coworkers. I had a chronicle to finish writing, so I offered to stay and watch the rascals. They’re mischievous with a capital M. We were afraid they might wreak havoc at the party. Imagine bringing five baby goblins to a festival, except each wields fire of a different element. Oh, and they fly 200 feet in a minute!"
"Got outsmarted though. The wisps took off for the maze, I ran in after them. I've been looking for the past...five hours or so?" A slight shade of despair falls over Selan’s face. "Ashasar is never going to let me live this down."
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"To catch mischief, you must BE mischief." Khiari focuses. "And no one's more mischievous than me! Well, maybe my sister."
Bella stands stone faced, at attention and doesn't react. It's part of the bit.
"But yeah, of course we'll find those wisps! Do you have any clues that could help?" She yanks Bella's healing elixir she acquired from the Pathfinder School. "We got healing potions..." She grins.
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Stitch doesn't look up from his potion bottles but reminds them "I can fix you up if you need it Selan." He offers some medical attention once he's done with the potions.
"Since I guess we're in a time crunch this will have to do." He dusts on some stinging powder and takes a swig of alcohol for the pain. "Oh, that was supposed to be for you.. sorry about that."
"Well, I could ask the trees if they've seen them," Selan answers, brow furrowed in thought. "The trees give hints if you’re friendly enough, though that might just be the wood genie in me. They were kind enough to help us find some elemental portals days ago, at least." She gives Stitch a nod of acceptance and waves to him to approach so he can try to patch the worst of her injuries. As the dwarf works, Selan suddenly swears and slaps her forehead. "Oh NO. What if they went into one of the elemental portals!? I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner!"
Looking to the group, she continues, "I don't remember the way there right off but I'll ask the trees and write down what they say. Hopefully that'll help you find your way in the maze."
Unfortunately, try as Stitch might, it's hard to work on someone who either can't or won't sit still and he's unable to really do anything for Selan's injuries. Luckily she doesn't seem too upset. "No no, it's fine, I'll be fine. If you're willing to try and find those wisps for me then I can patch myself up with supplies from one of the lodge infirmaries."
"Elemental portals, you say? How fascinating! I'd love to see them for myself," Taiwalei muses. "We can kill two birds with one stone and explore the portals a bit while we look for Selan's missing wisps, yes?" He gives Vardarel what's meant to be a reassuring clap on the shoulder. "I know we don't have a lot of time, so don't worry about the Nexus House or Starrise Spire; we can always visit them another day when there isn't so much going on. Besides, we can't just turn away from an ally in need, whether a fellow agent or animal companion or familiar!"
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Stitch pats Selan's leg as he stands up "Sorry, first time ever patching up an ardande" He offers up a small sip of rubbing alcohol before climbing back up on Meat Wagon's bench seat.
"If you want to skip the other locations and play hide and seek with the wisps that's fine by me." Stitch tries to remember what he knows about these creatures called 'wisps'. How are we going to catch them.. they sound slippery and fast...
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"Oh, excellent!" Bella pipes up, showing the faintest hints of excitement. "We will find those wisps in no time and be back for the festivities, I assure you." She turns from Selan to Taiwalei. "Besides we are Pathfinders. We must explore and cooperate."
"And I do fancy a game of hide and seek."
"Oh great, thank you! I'll go ask the trees about those portals right now!" And in spite of her injuries, Selan races off with surprising speed. It takes a few minutes for her to return, during which time the rest of Heidmarch Manor is secured, more guards show up, and the unconscious thugs are hauled off to the nearest jail cell. Stitch also manages to finish his work on identifying the two mysterious potions, finding that they're Lesser Potions of Retaliation. For some reason though, the energy they're infused with is in flux and shifts from energy type to energy type.
When Selan returns, her expression is a mixture of hope and anxiety. "Okay, okay, so the trees gave me, um, a riddle and I wrote it down for you," she explains as she hands Vardarel a slip of paper. "But don't take it too literally or at face value, okay? The trees aren't bad or anything but I'd be lying if I said that they didn't enjoy seeing people get lost from time to time." Noticing the potions Stitch has, she remarks, "Oh, those are handy to have! If you want me to, I can set the energy type of those for you before you go."
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"Oh, it's like a poem about the four seasons. Cool." Khiari reads it diligently while Bella considers new variations for each season.
"Autumn brings leaves to read"
"But worry about the pits they lead"
" to. Hmm."
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"Strange potions. I'm not sure if setting them now would be helpful if we end up in an elemental portal of the same type. You'd think an angry elemental on the plane of fire may not be bothered by flame.. maybe you can show me how to set them? I'm pretty clever." He winks.
"Oh, speaking of.. were the wisps hostile and angry? Are they likely to attack us or flee?" He keeps one potion and offers up the other to group.
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“If they were all the same elemental type of wisp, might make sense to set at least one of the potions to that type. Even if they wouldn’t hurt us, it is likely they would be in that type of environment.”
Shaking his head, he says “No idea on this poem. Seems like a set of directions, but probably will not figure it out until after we needed it.”
"Oh no, the wisps aren't dangerous! Remember, they're familiars so they're used to people. They'll defend themselves if attacked but they're not malicious - just mischievous, and the fire wisp is a little mouthy, but that's pretty much it. There was one of each element in the mix - air, earth, fire, water, metal, and wood."
Stitch knows that Selan's description is fairly accurate. He recalls that wisps are tiny elementals who attune to each other and to those they surround themselves with. This attunement makes them naturally supportive allies. Free wisps do roam the Inner Sphere and the Material Plane, but they're usually shy and hide themselves from strangers. However, they happily offer their service to those who show them kindness. They especially find themselves drawn to spellcasters who practice elemental magic; these wisps usually watch from afar but sometimes approach those who seem safe to become familiars or comrades. They also don't hold animosity for wisps of opposing elements, unlike some other types of elementals.
"As for those potions, I dunno...it'd probably take way longer than you guys have time to teach you how to set them yourselves," Selan shrugs.
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After taking a moment to decide what to do with the two potions you've found, there's not much else to do but head back into the maze in search of the missing wisps. The riddle given to you by the trees is about as clear as mud, so hopefully things will make a little more sense once you get started.
Following some additional instructions given by Selan, you make your way to a specific section of the maze to begin your search and emerge onto what appears to be a primary pathway. The trees that make up the hedge maze stand 15 feet tall and are surprisingly dense, too dense to move through if you try. While the path is exposed to the sky, you notice that distant sound seems to be muffled more than normal, even for a hedge maze.
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"Ah, the forest. Full of life, mysteries, and ecosystems to which we may only inquire about."
Bella crouches. "Also an excellent opportunity for a footrace." Bella blasts off.
Khiari snorts. "I don't care how much training you got sis, your flat feet still can't match hooves!" She skips after her sister.
"W-wait! I wasn't ready!" Khiari changes tone as Bella laps around her and returns to the party.
"Hmph. Unguligrade or no, talent will always trump a natural advantage!" Bella stands proud. "Now. Let us move onward. This route was the most clear."
Nicole begins to try and use her knowledge of all things magical to attempt to figure out a path forward while Bella and Khiari begin to skip and frolic around. But Roark quickly raises a hand to signal them to hold off for the moment; he looks around, gazes up at the sky, and studies the nearby terrain for a bit before beckoning everyone to follow along the main pathway. You quickly enter an open clearing amidst the maze's trees. A small artificial pond gives a calm and peaceful aura and is the perfect place to rest in. The water is clear, easily letting the viewer see what is at the bottom of the pond - in this case, what looks like a small rucksack tied to a stone. It looks like the bottom is about 10 feet down.
"Fine! Swimming contest!" Khiari changes the rules on a whim before diving into the pool.
Khiari sighs. "Never a sore loser, that one."
Bella emerges first with a rucksack in her hands while Khiari sputters up a moment later, her fur soaking wet. "No fair! You followed my lead! I did all the hard work!"
Bella sighs and opens the bag...
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Stitch blinks a few times as things move in fast forward around him "You all do the swimming, I'll keep watch.. I got a good view from up here." He stands Dwarf tall on top of Meat Wagon, giving him a commanding view from around 10 feet up while the other race into the pool.
Nothing bad ever comes from a strange clear pool in a haunted fey forest.