With space cramped and the party lacking clear tools to disable them the tricky way, Othello braves marches forwards!
for
for
As he moves across the first pressure plate, a dart shoots out from a hole in the statue at the champion. But it *pings* off of his armor! Crossing the second plate another dart fires from a second launcher, but having noticed where they are firing from he is able to take enough cover to cause it too to miss!
Othello hears the cranking of machinery on either side as those two launchers appear to be reloading. You are able to quickly bring the wounded Pathfinder back with you to the entrance, reaching the rest of the party just as you hear a faint *click* as the trap seems to set into place once more.
Once Miladistra is able to close with your hurt ally she can begin tending to his wounds. At first the agent is woozy, but after ten minutes he seems significantly better, and is able to speak.
"What...where...oh, Pathfinders! Thank Gozreh. Thought I was a goner I did. Don't tell me you got trapped in this place when the Maze shorted out too?" He sits up a bit straighter and looks around. "Carine, is Carine all right?"
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Amiri's jaw drops as the champion just charges in through the traps and is even more shocked that he seemed to be unharmed by it.
To add to the Lynn's explanation, There is a large gathering of us here. It might be best if we take you back to everyone else. They could help you more. Amiri does look back at the dead wolverine. I am sorry if he was your friend.
"He? Who?" the Pathfinder looks back at the dead wolverine still lying in the hallway. "Oh, that a&*!$$#? No, it can rot in Hells. Just some dumb animal that wandered into the Maze of the Open Road while Carine and I were in there collecting samples. There was a whole pack of them, aggressive from the jump, and we were fighting them off when the whole place seemed to go all weird. Carine and I ran to the nearest Maze exit, but then would up in this weird ruins place. Top it off, some of those wolverines followed us in!"
"We were fleeing that way" he points further down to the end of the trapped hallway "When I got got by some trap there Darn pressure plates. Only good news is at least it took one of those things down when they walked over it. But, if you haven't seen Carine yet then..." He tries to stand up but spins and leans against the wall, still a bit woozy from his near-death experience. "Please, you need to go help her too!"
"Oh, name's Dalver by the way."
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So you are saying your friend is deeper down the hallway that we just pulled you from? Great more traps. Happy that we aren't giving you the bad news that your pet is dead though. You should relax for a moment. We will be back with your friend and take you to the others. Amiri starts to walk towards the hallway of death and turns Ohh and I am Amiri.
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The >Leap< action says you can make a 10 foot jump without needing an Athletics check as long as your speed is between 15 and 30 feet. Also, the >GM mentioned it's low gravity< so we can leap twice as far. We shouldn't need to make any checks unless there's another gotcha.[/url]
Opening the door at the far end of the hall, you find a wider open chamber that rises at the far end, an upper level accessible by stairs along the east and west walls. On that raised platform is a large brazier filled with fire that illuminates the space.
You see a short set of stairs leading down to your left into a dead end. Ahead, on the raised section to the right of the brazier is an open door, from which you can faintly catch a gleaming from the space beyond.
A fluffy ball of fang and claws forces his way past the skinny hallway.
Miladistra provides even more illumination for the room with her torch while Lynn moves in to check the odd cut-off side passage.
The dead-end does seem to truly be a dead-end: some weird architectural trick perhaps to confuse intruders. Musings on the why of it miht have to wait though: as the six of you begin moving about the chamber the brazier flares bright! A lick of flame leaps down and begins moving in a canine shape, while three more motes of fire separate and begin floating about towards you while emitting a crackling sound!
Initiative
Lynn
Lynn gives an anlert and boosts Ezra. As the psychopmop hop-glides forward she delivers a mighty peck that completely snuffs out one of the hovering motes of flame!
Another nearby fireball rotates towards the outsdier, and two lashes of flame lashes out from it. Luckily Ezra manages to dodge both, and more faint tendrils of fire then seem to coil up about the crackling sphere as if its preparing for something.
for plus
for plus
Initiative
Amiri
Amiri delivers a hard blow to the flying flaming sphere, leaving it now a barely still-glowing ember.
The larger, quadrupedal flame creature turns to the barbarian now up the stairs. It bounds towards her and snips out at Amiri with its jaws. As it does, the wounded wisp Amiri struck also lashes out at the Kellid: while the distraction doesn't seem to work, the jaws chomp down twice on her and the room gets a bit brighter as Amiri's clothes catch on fire!
for plus
for
Initiative
Othello
Othello advances and decisively douses the dimmed fireball while tending to Amiri's burning problem.
The one remaining tiny sphere floats towards the champion and lashes out at him with two tendrils of its own. Both miss terribly as crackling noises emanate from it.
for plus
for plus
Initiative
Lynn
Amiri 37/50, taking persistent fire damage (2 next round, have gotten help to put it out {lower flat check})
Miladistra
Amiri's eye-work could use some...well some work. Her swordplay's top notch though: a critical slash almost cleaves the firey fox in two. It's still up and moving, but barely.
Initiative
Lynn
Amiri 35/50 (for 3rd action)
Miladistra
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"Okay. Deroff, get me a bit closer, please." She ruffles the wolf's hair. He responds with a leap towards the Southwest corner.
Deroff doesn't want to crush the Missus against the short ceiling and overcompensates, almost stumbling on the stairway.
"It's okay, it's okay. We made it." She channels lighting from her fingertips and shoots sparks towards both fiery creatures.
Both flame things didge paritally out of the way of the crackling lightning, but even a glancing shock causes the fire fox to fall down.
Ezra then moves over to the last mote. Her peck goes teribly wide in her panic, but the claw is well-placed and snuffs that final floating ember out.
While you regather yourselves, you look through the open door to the north and see a mound of gold coins sitting in the middle of a small chamber. Next to the mound: the still-smoking body of a Pathfinder, dead.
Before you can rush in to recover the body, Lynn yells out a word of warning: she notices runes in the chamber set to detect living creatures moving within. They'll react by detonating a ball of flame in the chamber: Thievery skills or Dispelling magic would be needed if you wish to enter the chamber yourselves safely.
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Lynn just stares at the body and the mound of gold and says,"Well.... That's kind of annoying. Can anyone summon a zombie or a construct? If not Ill volunteer to do the death run this time."
Upon contemplating her actions she gives a reassuring pat on the back on Amiri and starts petting Ezra along the back.
With a bit of magic, Miladistra has a mtflit emerge by her side.
"What the...oh, hey M! What's up? Oh, gold! you need me to help carry it for y--"
As the fey moves into the room to begin scooping up the gold, the runes inside flash and an eruption of flame .
"Ow...gonna put this.... on yer tab..."
The fey vanishes, but as the trap slowly recharges you have ample opportunity to retrieve the body. You look to take the gold with you too, but on close inspection the “coins” in this area are just small stone discs covered with a thin veneer of gold-colored paint.
Making your way back to the recovering Dalver, he is delighted to see you're still mostly fine, but crestfallen that Carine didn't make it Still he is happy at least their body could be reclaimed for burial, and your group can escort him back to some of the main hallways where junior agents can take him back to the main 'base camp' set up in the archway room from there.
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With that handled for now, you decide to try and explore the library space the scouts glimpsed. It takes you a few minutes to find it, but eventually you turn a corner and find a grand entry chamber. Its walls are carved with faded images, ranging from tentacled monsters and ritual ceremonies to flying wagons and other strange machines. Beyond the entry chamber is a grand library filled with books and beautiful statuary.
Of course, that's beyond it. In the middle of this entry space sits a mound of tattered paper, fabric, and other refuse. And on top of that makeshift nest are two very much alive wolverines who growl and tense as you approach.
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"Thank ya kindly, Miffle." Miladistra waves Miffle good luck as they enter the room.
Yup. Fool's Gold. The more important treasure is the woman. Or her body, at least. Whether through greed or desperation, Carine met her end here. Miladistra wonders what her end will look like. Old, surrounded by loved ones as she sleeps for the final time? Cut short in the mouth of a fire breathing dragon? Sacrificed to save the world? Deroff shakes a bit to shock her out of her daze.
"I'm sorry about Carine, Dalver. Take the time you need to rest up, alright? You've done more than enough for the Society."
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Her village library wasn't much. Half of the town simply reads the almanac and the weather forecast. Halve that group looks through the newspaper for records of their prized crops. Another halving and you got the folks who read the religious tomes- and nothing but the religious tomes. The rest don't read or can't read.
Miladistra enjoys the stories the most. Happy-go-lucky wanderers moving from one town to the next, guided only by their curiosity. And of course, the strange creatures who follow them. Who tricks whom? Depends on the story, the time of day and how hungry they are.
Deroff comes to a standstill, and the jolt shakes Miladistra's nostrils awake. That's not wood pulp. Smells like dry fur.
Lynn gives a good suggestion, and Miladistra is ready to oblige. "Yeah, one second."
Rose petals fall from her hair as she casts >Speak with Animals<. She switches between snitching, growling, barking, chittering and some Common. "I'm asking them to calm down a bit- we'll be here for a few minutes, and then we'll be out of their hair."
"Of course. And, thank you." Dalver says as you drop him off. "And I understand, but it looks like there's still some work to do here. Nothing strenuous." he reassures "But if hundreds of agents are exploring this place I wouldn't be much of a Pathfinder if I didn't at least help try to organize or record what all your teams are reporting."
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In the library's forum, the two animals tense further as Miladistra approaches. But when she starts snarling at them their backs arch a little less and they snarl right back.
{Go away! This new den Cold and dark and not green, but ours!}
As Miladistra continues to talk to them in reassuring tones their attitude continues to improve. Each wolverine stops baring their fangs and looks almost sad.
{Your neck-rock, it's like the others. You lost too? Logan, Gaby, and I were going through a tall-plant path. Two people with neck-rocks there too. Tried to scare each other away, but then plants went gone and in small dark rock path. Thorns shot out from walls, got Logan. We ran away, found here. Some things for new nest, but not good. Miss home. You know how to go home?}
{Over there boring. Rocks and dead plants.} the larger wolverine snarls back. {Look Gaby, food! Nice two-legs!}
The two wolverines move towards Lynn’s offered rations and begin devouring them hungrily. Calmed, they make no objection as you move into the library beyond.
The library itself is enormous. A high-ceilinged central space branches out into several nooks and wings spread across multiple floors. Apart from sections holding bookshelves very little wall space is left unadorned. Carvings spread around the space, showing a multitude of scenes and figures. The most common recurring type of image is that of a large archway. Showing up again and again, this clearly magical gateway or portal is often depicted with humanoid figures – of multiple varieties – passing through it. In some instances, those same sorts of figures – including not only humans, but ratfolk, small reptilian figures that seem a cross between an iruxi and a kobold, and looming large four-armed tusked beings – are instead bowing before the arch.
Other imagery is more varied and are carvings of different scenes. In one corner etched into the stone is a dragon rising up from a coffin. Elsewhere you see an underground hedge maze connecting to ancient ruins. In another corner is found a carving of uniformed forces bearing Alkenstarian weapons, led by a slender four-armed man whose crainum is oddly elongated. Perhaps most ominously is a carving you notice somewhat close to the entrance of four figures battling strange doglike monsters: figures whose likenesses are unnervingly similar to your own…
Of course, a library isn’t just decoration: its also books! Unfortunately as you peruse the stacks it seems a lot of the text here has seen better days. Time, animals, or temperature (it is starting to get a bit chilly) hasn’t been kind to the folios, but there are still perhaps some non-damaged work that could be useful.
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Once the wolverines are calmed down (for as much as you can calm down Wolverines, anyway) Miladistra moves on to the library itself. The carvings are a complete mystery to her, but she does know a thing or two about primal history and theory. Thanks Mother.
"Amiri, can you pass me that tome on- oh wow, I never would have gandered at this. You've got quite an eye for this."
Amiri does indeed show hidden depths. After only a few minutes she manages to find several intact volumes, including 'For Each, a Season, Unless...: An exploration of escaping the calendar's shackles', 'Moon Cycle Madness', 'Age Ain't Nothing But A Number', and an oddly compelling treatise about potential chronological-scrambling effects of specific warm-temperature saunas.
Meanwhile, Miladistra finds a relatively intact text about Shyka's teachings that contains stories that are extremely simplistic but exceedingly difficult to read as the book is told entirely out of order.
In a different corner, Othello comes across a massive tome that goes down a philosophical rabbit hole regarding the Scepter of Ages and free will. The author posits that if free will and the soul's choice is the cornerstone of truth, faith, and Alignment, then does the reality of a scepter that can retroactively alter the past to reframe ones life and perceptions complicate the alignment and intentionality of the souls whom it affects? An intriguing premise, unfortunately very dryly told.
Taken together though, you do notice a pattern: this library mostly seems to be documenting rituals and artifacts dealing with time manipulation.
As far as the carvings go, neither Ezra nor Amiri are able to identify much of the figures in them. The psychopomp does however detect something deeper about the wall art. The carved figures shown moving through the gate are etched in a subtly different way before they cross the arch and after. The outsider suspects this is meant to indicate the simple journey changes the travler, or perhaps even that the traveler’s spirit or mind travels through the gate while the body is left behind. This theory is supported by some nearby imagery to the gate-crossing carvings that depicts sleeping - or perhaps dead - bodies being placed into a deep trench. The lowest levels of bodies in these pits are shown as skeletons.
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Lynn just begins to rub the temples of her forehead as a headache begins to form. "I hate time travel. Couldn't we face another god? Or how about an ancient eldritch being wanting to consume Golarion," she says in a slight growl.
Walking up to the picture of themselves she points and says,"Yup. That's probably us. There's so many questions I have. When are we fighting? Who are we fighting? Who and when do we meet the people that paints that? "
Upon contemplating the situation she throws up her hands in abject confusion.
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"Yup, it's a Shyka story." Miladistra fumbles with the book. Mother would understand it, somehow.
"Travel through the mind while the body stays... Like you're split in two." She frowns. "It doesn't sound very fun to me."
She returns to Deroff, who is lying in a pile of shredded books. "Come on, we gotta go."