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[Despite my valiant efforts at boosting morale, the rift still hasn't been sealed]
[Surely you jest! If it wasn't for my encouragement we'd all be dead by now]
[Yes, well, be that as it may, I still can't just sit here doing nothing]
Mandoo returns to his morale boosting. "Is that really the best you can do my fellows? Time to put your backs into it. This rift won't seal itself you know."
[Oh, ha ha. Most amusing. When did you become such a comedian?]
Mandoo braces himself for the expected shot of cold...
...and takes the full brunt of it.
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Bina does her best to sort of mimic what Isaku was doing.
Shockingly, she doesn't even feel the cold. Having grown up next to a jungle, she would have thought it would be more... well, chilly. Must be my thick head, she thinks jovially as she continues mimicking Iskaku's gestures and incantations -- with surprising success.
After that, Bina moves back to trying to find new spots to pull shut through more physical means. She supposes she could keep aping Isaku, but she doubts her luck will keep up.
Her fingers fumble at the edges of a tear, and she very nearly gets blasted in the face with the strange energies spilling out of the temporal rifts, but she manages to fall flat on her belly as the gouts rip over her head. "Shoulda kept miming Isaku," she grumbles irritably as she stands up and dusts herself off.
As the time rift shatters, reality rights itself, revealing the focus—a fully dressed, towering draconic being bent over a metal and glass sarcophagus. The dragon turns, brandishing a strange tool. “Get back, you blasted dogs! Wait... You’re not the hounds.” The dragon taps her snout, thinking hard, then shakes her head. “You seem familiar. But if we’ve met, I can’t recall. The longer I’m away from home, the more jumbled my memories become. I can barely remember my name! It’s Heraxia, by the way. Who are you?”
After you introduce yourselves, Heraxia explains what she can about her situation.
She comes from what she thinks is distant future. She was born on Triaxus and bonded with an adventurous ryphorian named Felise.
The duo went on many adventures, though Heraxia can’t recall specifics. She does recall Felise was easily bored and insisted each adventure was bigger, bolder, and more dangerous than the last. They explored other worlds, planes, and eventually other times.
Their travels through temporal byways attracted the attention of dangerous beasts, particularly strange bug-eyed hounds that hunted them. The pair fled but were separated. Felise was shunted back to their home time, while Heraxia was stranded in the distant past.
Heraxia and Felise retained the ability to communicate empathically, but it happens rarely and for short periods.
In the years since their separation, they’ve employed numerous artifacts, magical rituals, and experimental technology to try to bring Heraxia back to the future, all in vain.
Fortuitously, they’ve both recently come across a magical artifact known as the Eternity Arch in their respective timelines and believe it could at last provide an answer to their long isolation. Though the arch was originally intended for psychic transference across time, Heraxia has found a damaged stasis pod transplanted here from another time. Once repaired, it should serve as the perfect vessel for Heraxia to travel through the Eternity Arch to her home time. Both Felise and Heraxia have been independently experimenting and modifying the Eternity Arch to accommodate Heraxia’s journey.
Heraxia suspects once she’s returned to her time, the Eternity Arch should return to dormancy, and the Pathfinder’s Maze of the Open Road will revert to its typical function.
Heraxia can’t remember anything else about the future.
Heraxia asks for the Pathfinders aid in several tasks as she works to return home. Venture-Captain Armeline Jirneau encourages the Pathfinders to assist, as returning Heraxia to her proper time should sever her connection to the Eternity Arch.
There are three tasks you can attempt to help Heraxia - you can repair the stasis pod, transport the stasis pod to the vault near the Eternity
Arch, or keep watch for danger. For each task, each character will attempt up to two checks, and you will all work on the same task simultaneously. If you complete one, you can move on to the others.
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[Did anything this Heraxia, um... person just say make any sense to you?]
[Sounds so simple when you put it that way]
[So the sooner we get them back together, the better. No?]
Mandoo pipes up. "I'm not sure exactly how Tina and I can help, but we'll do our best to get Heraxia and Felise back together again. Where do we start?"
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Kornel smiles at the dragon. "We, ah, have seen pictures and visions of you in this maze. You are famous in this place. Ah hah."
"So," his unblinking eyes move to the glass sarcophagus, "that is a, how did you say, a stasis pod? Sounds interesting, ah hah. Do you mind telling us how it works? A person just lies there?"
Heraxia gestures at the metal and glass sarcophagus. “This is a stasis pod—a box that keeps whoever’s inside alive despite the passage of time. It’s pretty damaged, and I could use a hand repairing it"
Each character can attempt two skill checks to help repair the stasis pod. The most appropriate options are Crafting checks or applicable Lore checks to repair the mechanism directly and harder Arcana, Medicine, or Thievery checks to decipher its mechanisms. You can also use other skills if you can justify their use.
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[Hmm... a box that keeps you alive despite the passage of time. I wonder what the Gray Lady would say about that]
[Okay. If you say so. Still smells a little fishy to me]
Satisfied, Mandoo rolls up his shirt sleeves and rubs his hands together. "Very well. Let's get to work." Using the tools from his healing kit and his highly trained surgeon's hands, he pokes around in the innards of the pod control system looking for anything that looks like an injury...
...and fixes it.
Mandoo is so focused on his work that he does not notice the silent Libitina approach and look over his shoulder.
[By all that is holy! You nearly scared me to death!]
[And, no, I don't believe I missed anything]
Libitina brings her long skeletal fingers forward and uses them to reach way to the back of the box where...
...she carefully pushes in a loose connector.
[Hmph! Maybe]
[Thank you dear. I wish all my students were as attentive as you]
With Heraxia's assistance, the statis pod is fixed and begins to glow softly.
Heraxia points at the metal and glass sarcophagus. “We need to move this stasis pod to a location near the Eternity Arch. Somewhere close but isolated. The oval-shaped chamber at the back of the area should work. Lift on three!"
Each character can attempt two skill checks to help transport the stasis pod to the ovoid chamber near the Eternity Arch. The most appropriate options Acrobatics or Athletics checks to safely relocate the pod and harder Crafting, Survival, or applicable Lore checks to create improvised devices to assist with transport. You can also come up with other strategies.
The Pathfinders move the pod into the room where some of them saw the time-displaced image of it earlier.
Venture-Captain Armeline Jirneau gestures at the surrounding landscape. “This is a dangerous place, Pathfinders. Secure the perimeter. Let’s keep trouble away as long as we can.”
Each character can attempt two skill checks to secure the perimeter. The most appropriate options are Nature, Stealth, or Survival, or applicable Lore checks to assess nearby threats and harder Athletics or Crafting checks to create protective barricades. You can also come up with other strategies.
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[This place looks familiar]
[So it is. No need to ask where to put down the pod then]
[Sounds like Captain Jirneau is expecting trouble at any moment]
No sooner does Libitina put down her end of the pod than her scythe manifests out of thin air. She goes and helps those building protective barricades...
...with mixed results.
The area around the pod is secure. Nothing left to do but rest until the Society bigwigs tell you what to do next.
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The Eternity Arch pulses with energy as Heraxia and the Pathfinders congregate near it. Venture-Captain Armeline Jirneau calls for silence. “You’ve done well, Pathfinders, but our mission isn’t over yet. We have to send Heraxia home if we want to go home.”
“That’s right,” Heraxia cuts in. “I have a few more tweaks to make to the stasis pod. Then I need to attune to the Eternity Arch—it should only take a few minutes. Then I can climb in the stasis pod and ride the Eternity Arch home.”
“This is where it gets tricky,” Armeline continues. “Once Heraxia is sealed within the stasis pod, we’ll have moments to get back into the Maze of the Open Road. As soon as she leaves this time, the Eternity Arch’s connection to her will be severed and the Maze will realign—that means this path to the Maze will no longer exist. Anyone who doesn’t make it through will be stranded here, on this distant planet. It should go without saying that the chances of rescue are slim. I want all of our support staff to retreat to the Maze immediately. Bring what supplies you can. In the meantime—”
Armeline’s words are cut short by an eerie howl that issues from the Eternity Arch. Heraxia races back to her stasis pod. “The hounds are coming! We’re out of time!”
Armeline’s face hardens as she draws an alchemical bomb. “Steel yourselves, Pathfinders! We must protect Heraxia!”
“Incoming!” Urwal shouts as purple glowing cracks in reality spread like spider webs across the chamber. Reality shifts and flickers wildly, leaving behind blurred afterimages of people from other times and places. The unstable reflections screech in confusion and surge forward, arms raised to attack.
Meanwhile, one of the cracks widens, tearing open a massive time rift in the floor. Pathfinders leap out of the way, grasping at stone to avoid tumbling through time. “Help them!” Janira shouts. “Hurry!”
The time rift is 40 feet long and 20 feet wide at its center, then narrows at its edges to 5 feet wide. Eight Pathfinders are in danger of falling into the time rift. Six cling to the tiled floor at the edge of the rift, with their bodies dangling into it. One climbed partway up a pillar whose base has disappeared into the rift; they are 15 feet in the air. The final Pathfinder holds onto a rope tied to a grappling hook, which they tossed into the chamber at the last moment to save themself. The grappling hook is gripping the gap in a stone tile and is clearly not well secured.
The grappling hook slips off the tile, dropping that Pathfinder 5 feet further into the time rift. The grappling hook snags another tile 5 feet closer to the edge of the time rift. Its hold is precarious, and it’s likely to slip again in moments.
Round 1 - 8 Pathfinders in danger!
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Mandoo and Libitina rush towards the unfortunate Pathfinder dangling from the barely holding grappling hook.
[Go ahead and help the poor fellow, dear. I'll catch up when I can]
Libitina feels the now familiar drag of time as she approaches the rift. She pushes herself forward...
...and successfully overcomes the drag to reach the grappling hook. Reaching out a hand, she grabs onto it to stop it from slipping further...
...but has trouble getting a good grip on the thing with her phalanges.
She redoubles her efforts, dismissing her scythe, she brings both hands to bear on the grappling hook...
...and barely manages to hang onto it, hopefully giving the dangling Pathfinder a chance to pull himself up.
Bina and Dancing Sunbeam get into position, while Libitina drags one Pathfinder out by the grappling hook.
Isaku, Kornel and Ace are up! 7 Pathfinders in danger!
Kornel also moves toward the rift.
The grappling hook snags on the very edge of the time rift. Its hold is precarious, and it’s likely to slips again in moments.
Round 2 - 7 Pathfinders in danger, 1 saved
Everyone may go, Isaku and Ace twice
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[That was a close one there, dearest]
[All's well that ends well, I say. Shall we try for another?]
[Don't be like that, Tina. There is no 'me' and 'you' anymore; there is only 'us']
Libitina continues to fight the rift's slowing effects as she moves along its edge to the next pair of Pathfinders; Mandoo follows along at a distance.
[Being near the rift is a real drag, no?]
Reaching the next two Pathfinders in danger, Libitina grabs one and tries to pull them away from the edge...
...her bony hands apparently having no difficulty finding purchase on their clothing. Having saved one, she reaches out and tries to snag the other one...
...but with substantially less success.
[No one's perfect, my love. Not even you. Shake it off and try again]
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Isaku strides twice, then feels himself getting sluggish.
Shaking off the effects, he releases Piercing Wind (i.e. he's no longer in Fatal Aim).
The sluggishness takes hold and Isaku feels as if he's moving in jelly. He still manages to cross over to the other side of the rift and tries to grab one of the Pathfinders ()
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"Grab my hand!" Bina cries, grasping at the clinging Pathfinder and pulling with all her might. Once she's relatively sure the poor soul is secure on solid ground, she hustles around the rift, pushing against the waves of distorted time to try and reach another precarious Pathfinder.
♦
♦ Stride 25 ft.
♦ Stride 15 ft.
Libitina drags another Pathfinder to safety, though her attempt to quickly grab hold of another only manages to knock some loose stone into the rift..
Isaku runs to the edge of the distortion and rescues one of the agents.
Bina pulls another Pathfinder out of danger.
The purple crack widens and then explodes into dozens of smaller rifts. Each rift reveals a vision of some distant view. From stone walls of unknown architecture to verdant jungles, each vision is entirely different. The ground in the chamber shakes and heaves as a massive bug skitters into existence from the rifts.
“Now there’s a challenge!” Calisro Benarry boasts. “Let’s show them what Pathfinders are made of!”
“The rifts are pulling us into the past,” Jirneau counters. “We need to force the Eternity Arch to seal these rifts, or we’ll be stranded here!”
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Libitina reaches out once again and tries to pull the Pathfinder to safety...
...and this time has no trouble getting a grip and hauling them away from the rift.
[See? My faith in you is boundless]
Libitina moves around the edge of the rift and Mandoo decides that trying to skirt the slow zone around the rift would put him farther away from his beloved than he felt was comfortable. He takes a breath and pushes into the time distortion...
...barely managing to keep moving through what feels like a river of honey. Meanwhile, Libitina reaches down once again and tries to save another soul for Pharasma...
...and grasping them by the wrist, pulls them away.
[One more soul saved for Pharasma. That's almost all of them. Once Kornel gets his man free of the rift we'll be done here]
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Bina loops a rope around the nearby Pathfinder's wrist and yells, "Hold on tight!" before running to the nearby column, looping around it once, and using it as a fulcrum to help her small frame pull up the dangling figure.
Once the Pathfinders are all safe, she hears the call of the Venture Captains and draws her blade. "Can we fight the bug? Pretty please? All this hard work is making me cranky." Far from looking 'cranky,' however, the swashbuckler has a gleam in her eye and a small smirk on her mouth that just screams 'trouble.'
A group of territorial insects emerge from the rifts and advance on the defending Pathfinders. Those you rescued immediately do battle with some that emerged near the Eternity Arch, while you are left with a group whose rifts were closer to the chamber entrance - including one very large specimen.
Round 1 - bolded may go
Mandoo/Libitina
Purple
Green
Isaku Beru
Red
Blue
Yellow
Ace Malaluna
Kornel
Bina Sevencloaks
Dancing Sunbeam