"Sounds good to me."
Sulee ◆ runs around the round thing in the middle of the room towards the barrel farthest away from Gerhard. There she ◆ steps carefully the rest of the distance, growling and keeping a close eye on the reckless fanatic as she moves.
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◆ Grapple
◆ Manipulate (brush the powder line of the barrel to the west)
Yasami watches Gerhard run past her with a tindertwig. She looks at Sulee near the barrels, and makes a split second decision to stop the man instead of running. She dashes after Gerhard, quickly coming up from behind him, and puts one around his neck with her elbow beneath the man's chin. Her other arm pressed against his neck from behind, trying to inflict a modicum of pain and implying a potential worsening of that sensation.
"You got a f@~~ing death wish, you lunatic? We can arrange that. But let me tell you this..."
With a quick spin, she he turns Gerhard towards one of the barrels and pushes his head closer to it. As she does that, she brushes one of the powder lines with her foot to break it.
"Light it up, and it will be YOUR face that will shield me from the explosion. I dare you to do it. Maybe daddy will even think you left this world as a man. You got something to prove to someone, huh?"
She presses his face against the barrel and tightens the grip. "Do you?!"
Catalina's shot hits him in the back, and he growls and moves to light the tindertwig. But then Yasami is upon him, feeling a surge of skill from Caiten, putting the annoying man in a headlock and shoving his face against the barrel.
Two of the lines of powder broken, his gun having exploded, Gerhard sees only one chance remaining to blow this place without blowing himself up...
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Lisi enters the temple.
"Close your eyes unless you want to see nothing but black powder," he says, and raises a hand, speaking unknowable syllables.
A line of wind rises up from his hand, racing along the line of powder.
Lisi blows away the remaining black powder trails, and as he does, he blows away Gerhard Pendergrast's last hopes for destroying this temple and protecting his reputation.
Time slows for the bestselling author.
These people, these cretins stole from him once, and now they threatened his very legacy. He couldn't hope to beat them, outnumbered as he was. Leave it to thugs to not fight fair. If they left this place, and it remained standing, they would spread the tale far and wide, and scholars would come here and find out.
They'd find out he'd been wrong.
Instead of going down in history as the preeminent expert on the cultures of the Expanse, he'd be a mere footnote in someone else's story. If his name even made it onto their pages.
The only way for a man to achieve true immortality was to make his name famous. Everyone died. But so long as people remembered the mark you made on history, you were never truly dead.
It was thoughts such as these that led to Gerhard hesitating, then lighting the tindertwig, Yasami watching the lunatic call her bluff.
Caiten has to assess the man for several moments before ruling out all other possibilities of what he is attempting to do now.
With little else to do on short notice, Caiten casts ◆◆ Command. "Drop that immediately."
"Sulee, see if you can push that barrel out of range."
Focus Points (max 3): 3
Hexes
◆ Stoke the Heart
↺ Phase Familiar
◆ Needle of Vengeance
Focus
↺ Delay Consequence
Innate
◆ Time Sense
Cantrips
◆ Shield
◆◆ Haunting Hymn
◆◆ Stabilize
◆ Guidance
◆◆ Divine Lance
1st
◆◆ Fear
◆◆ Command
◆◆ Heal
2nd
◆◆ Heal H+1
◆◆ Resist Energy
◆◆ Spiritual Weapon
3rd
◆◆ Heal H+2
◆◆ Behold the Weave
◆◆ Vampiric Touch
Sulee braces herself against the barrel and shoves it a couple of times towards the entrance of the temple.
Dario rushes past as the madman actually accepts death over life, lighting the tindertwig and reaching out for the explosive barrel before him. There was no time to think, no thoughts of preservation as he darts towards where his friend restrained the man trying to keep him from killing all of them. Caiten gives his command and Dario is there to follow it up.
"I ain't mad with you trying to kill me. That's fair enough. But my friends?" The pistol stops and he lifts the barrel up, pointing it against the man's forehead. "You should give me a reason why I don't empty whatever you call a damn brain over the floor. We got magic; Yasami and I can get cleaned up real quick..."
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Seeing the man willing to die just to destroy a building, Joran knows this fool has to be taken down quickly, otherwise... well... he really didn't want to think about that.
Cenendyll sprints into the temple, arriving to block the lout, and also again to pray that he save his own soul
-MOVE
-MOVE
-LAW (Litany against Wrath)
"Choose to live your humiliating little life Gebmann, or whatever your name is ..."
When Gerhard drops the tindertwig, Yasami seizes the opportunity to get him away from the barrels. She releases the headlock, turns him around and looks him in the eyes. "Right. Enough of admiring the fireplace. How about a bit of dancing, hm?"
She quickly grabs him by the waist to nudge the man in the direction she wants, and positions herself around him to gently push him away from the lit twig and the barrels - slowly moving towards the entrance.
Prerequisites trained in Performance
Requirements You are adjacent to an enemy.
You sweep your foe into your dance. Attempt a Performance check against an adjacent enemy's Will DC. If your swashbuckler's style is battledancer and you succeed, you gain panache.
Critical Success Your foe is swept up in your dance. You both move up to 10 feet in the same direction, remaining adjacent to one another. Your movement doesn't trigger reactions from the target (and the target's movement doesn't trigger reactions because it's forced movement).
Success As critical success, but you both move only 5 feet.
Failure The foe doesn't follow your steps. You can move 5 feet if you choose, but this movement triggers reactions normally.
Critical Failure You stumble, falling prone in your space.
I will roll three times for three actions to take him as far away as possible.
Now seeing that Penderghast has dropped his tindertwig, Oren rushes towards him, intent on making sure that this egotistical jerk doesn't blow everyone up going for some blaze of glory.
Caiten’s spell worms its way into Gerhard’s mind. It’s not Caiten’s voice the man hears echoing in his thought, though – it’s his father. No matter what he did, it was never good enough for the old man. Gerhard couldn’t recall a single kind word ever spoken to him, always angry demands. Gerhard, put down the books and pick up a sword. Gerhard, stop playing in the dirt like a peasant. Gerhard, find a lady to settle down with and sire an heir. Gerhard, drop that immediately.
He let the tindertwig go, momentarily muddled. Sulee, meanwhile, knocks over one of the powderkegs and starts rolling it away.
Joran rushes at the man, flail flailing, and brings it down on the man, hoping to end the threat the old fashioned way. No way is he letting this blowhard hurt his friends, or keep him from getting back to Trin. Oren follows suit, hitting the man with Foehammer. There were bigger issues to deal with, they couldn't stop Dahak if they were all dead.
Cev rushes towards danger as well, casting a spell upon Gerhard. The man suddenly feels an aversion to attacking any of you, the very thought of it seeming to pain him.
Still reeling from a thwack of the flail and hammer, Cev's magic, and his father’s voice echoing in his head, Gerhard allows himself to be swept into a dance with Yasami, as they cavort away from the barrels. ”What –?!”
They come to a stop and Gerhard felt a cold, hard, gun barrel pressed to his temple. Dario, having destroyed the tindertwig and extinguished the flame, has Gerhard dead to rights.
Gerhard stops struggling, his will to fight flagging. It was over. His life’s work. Probably his life. He slumped as the strength left his knees and he dropped heavily to the floor of the ancient temple. ”You’ve ruined me,” he whined quietly.
Caiten looks at the man and analyzes his words for a moment. "Your reasoning is flawed. If this temple is indeed a fake, then everyone knowledgeable on the subject who inspects it would come to the same conclusion that you do. There is no need to destroy the temple. And if your life's work is put in jeopardy by the existence of a fake temple, then it is not us who ruined you."
Caiten goes and picks up the barrel that Sulee is rolling along the ground and begins carrying it out of the temple. "Good work. Thank you."
Caiten takes a few minutes and inspects the religious symbology on the temple walls, asking Cevendyll for some explanations of things as needed.
"This is actually rather intriguing. I had not heard of deities of such different alignments working closely together like this."
Sulee snort-laughs at that and quickly tries to cover that up with a sneeze. "Whoof. This spicy soot is hard on the nose."
The man finally submitted, the fight leaving him as he slumped to the floor. The pistol would be quickly sheathed back into his holster, Dario shaking his head as he looked down at defeated adventurer.
"You can't build a hall with poor stones." Dario said softly, putting a hand on the man's shoulders. "I think you're an idiot and a conman but...you could learn something here. Report something true. When you die, you're work won't entirely be debunked by those ahead of you. You will live on with something of worth." He pats him for a moment, shrugging. "Or don't. I ain't your momma."
Stepping away, Dario looks to Catalina and nods towards the pistol in her hand. There was a look of approval at how she carried herself in the battle and the flawless execution she showed moments ago with their practiced reload. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
He would grab one of the explosive barrels and begin to carry it outside. After all, there could be other uses that such an explosion could be used for.
Catalina stood back, breathing hard while the others burst into a flurry of perfectly orchestrated movements, each complementing the other perfectly. She would have to work harder to be able to join in their dance. A rhythm would come with time, she knew, but for now, she quietly berated herself for not acting quicker.
The thaumaturge stowed her mirror and esoterica but kept the pistol out...just in case. She watched Dario speak to Gerhard, reassure the walking mustache that he could make something of himself, and a muscle in her face twitched. She wanted to shove that gun into his mouth and make him eat bullets--he threatened them, threatened their cause, all while spewing garbage about his half-baked theories and research. She glared daggers at the man until Dario spoke to her, pulling her out of her anger.
Her cheeks darken ever so slightly, a rosy color against her silvery skin, and she offers a small, hesitant smile. Her itchy finger moves off of the trigger of her gun and she takes a deep breath, smile widening. "Thank you. You are a wonderful teacher."
Catalina moves to stand over Gerhard, relying on her intimidating presence to keep him from moving even an inch without permission.
Lisi looks about the room. "Gerhard...here's a lesson about research. Never start out with a presumption, and by all the holies, don't stick to it if you find evidence to the contrary. The multiverse is vast. Golarion is vast. Mwangi is vast. There are mysteries in the tiniest spore we do not understand."
"Gedhemp, I believe you are useless, and quite possibly a waste of air that a good person could breathe. Others may believe differently. Others may believe that holding off your meeting with Pharasma is wiser than sending you unprepared. I believe that dogs should piss on your corpse ... yet as many dogs as we may have, I will let others decide differently."
Cev smiles ... it's scary
"Just know, deeply, that I would piss with them."
One by one, you spoke to, or glared at Gerhard. Dario, almost kindly. Lisi speaking with wisdom. Catalina merely shooting the volatile man a threatening look. Cev purposely butchering his name and insulting him.
It was Caiten's words, in the end, that stung him the most. The logic, cold, hard, and inescapable. If his life's work was put in jeopardy by the existence of a fake temple, then it is not they who ruined him. He's done that to himself.
He could just imagine his father now. What he would think, seeing him slumped on the ground in the middle of the jungle, defeated physically and academically, a failure in every way. "You stupid f!&*ing b*!&+," he muttered. He spoke of himself but it seemed aimed at Caiten, as if in response to the android's words.
Lisi notes something odd about the base of a stature on the central balcony that overhands the ridge. A secret compartment, long sealed. Within it, he finds three scrolls and a ring.
Yasamina keeps watching the man for any suspicious activity as he talks. She snaps at his comment. "Mind your tongue! There are ladies here."
She flashes a quick smile remembering Gerhard's note about him being ruined.
"Ruined you? Dude, I don't even know you! Four days ago, I was not aware of your existence. I don't think anyone here was. But after having the pleasure of meeting you twice, I don't think I want to. You disregard the safety of your colleagues and employees, and your own. And you somehow came to the conclusion that we built a stone structure without any tools here just to spite you. If you don't realise how bonkers that is, I suggest you instead try to find an occupation in a mental institution. As a patient."
She thinks for a moment as she frowns at him. "And now, if I were you, I would count my blessings. After what you've done, you are still breathing. So it might be time to turn to a new page in your life. Start over, preferably with less crazy involved."
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"You stupid f~#*ing b+&!*,"
"You mispronounced 'Witch'. And since Androids do not reproduce sexually, I am the most non-f~#*ing Witch you will ever meet."
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Sulee calls out to Shadow and Rocco who had come into the temple out of curiosity and boredom, "Hah, did you hear that? This guy uses the word 'b+&!*' like it is an insult."
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"What does b@*&~ mean?" Shadow asked.
"And what's a f&@#ing?" Rocco chimed in.
You could just imagine the faces of folks in Breachill, as a pair of juvenile wargs that were getting bigger every day pranced around town spewing foul language.
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"Holy hell! Someone will need to explain birds and the bees to the wargs at some point. Just make sure I am present when that happens."
"Holy hell! Someone will need to explain birds and the bees to the wargs at some point. Just make sure I am present when that happens."
"and as a footnote to that learning moment, whoever takes on this explanation might want to remember puppies have extraordinary scent memory; the instrctor may be asked if I need to be part of the lesson as well, because they could possibly try to interpret why I was trying to make a child with Akosa."
Cev smiles his mischief smile"kids don't miss much"
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"As long as it isn't the goblins. They...er, never mind. Suffice to say: Don't accept any butter from goblins."
He holds out the scrolls and the ring to Caiten. "Can you identify these, O pure and virtuous friend?" He glances at Sulee. "I'm pretty sure this means that Caiten can entice and ride a unicorn. That's what I learned in druidry school, at least."
He holds out the scrolls and the ring to Caiten. "Can you identify these, O pure and virtuous friend?"
"I can certainly make the attempt."
He glances at Sulee. "I'm pretty sure this means that Caiten can entice and ride a unicorn."
"Do they make particularly good mounts for some reason?"
Catalina cringed deeply at Cevendyll's comment about peeing on the man, but found herself distracted almost immediately by him cursing at their beloved Caiten. While she didn't feel the need to get a word in edgewise with a victory speech, she did relish the thought of humiliating the man further.
The thaumaturge steps to stand in front of Gerhard and presses her booted foot against his chest, forcing the man down to the ground and onto his back. She leans over him, pressing some of her weight down onto his chest to pin the man under her foot. She looks down at him, regarding him with a disappointed expression. "You didn't have permission to speak, Gerhard. You will wait quietly until we clean up your mess."
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"Do they make particularly good mounts for some reason?"
Yasami laughs. "Oh, man. You do NOT want to bring that up in 'polite' society." she makes air quotes and shudders almost immediately, then makes a thousand-yard stare. "I mean I've heard stories..."
"Wait - what are we talking about?"
Caiten determines one of the scrolls grants freedom of movement to the one it's cast upon, and another purges disease from a sick individual. The third is of particular interest, as it contains a transmutative spell he'd never considered before. It would transform the caster into a great reptile akin to the one Renali warned about. The ring would protect the wearer from fire to an extent.
Gerhard winces as the scary woman pins him down on the ground, but doesn't struggle. He looks thoroughly miserable.
Caiten hands the scroll of Dinosaur Form and the ring back to Lisi. "I would like to keep these other two scrolls. They appear to be spells that you are already able to cast."
He looks over at Gerhard and asks Lisi quietly, "What, exactly, is the plan for dealing with him? Turning him loose sounds dangerous - either to the countryside or to himself since he no longer has any guides. There is no guarantee that he won't return here to finish his destruction plans, or find somewhere else to cause problems. I don't think we have the time to take him back to Akrivel. I think it would just cause more fighting and bickering if we keep him with us. And I don't know if his behavior warrants execution or not."
"Well..." Yasami's mind trails off as she looks at Gerhard, still pinned to the floor by Catalina. "Not sure about you guys, but I will give you my thoughts on the matter. He has two strikes in my book. Three of those warrant a dagger in the guts. So I am fine with letting him go - with a WARNING." her eyes widen threateningly as she meets the man's gaze. "We have things to do here. Can't waste time with Mister Squealy-Boom-Boom."
She comes closer to Catalina and the other, self-titled archaeologist. "Man this is a -fancy- temple. If something were to happen to it, I would probably know who to blame." she says to nobody in particular, but loud enough for Pendergrast to hear.
"You all are kinder than I am," Catalina comments, pressing a little bit more weight onto Gerhard's chest. "He has proven twice that he cannot be trusted in a rather dramatic fashion. I am not convinced he should stay alive. In fact, I think it's a terrible idea." She pauses and glances over at the others, a contemplative frown on her face. "If nothing else, leave him with a dagger and some food and hope that the jungle doesn't get him."
She glares down at the Gerhard with a smirk on her face, raising an eyebrow. "Surely you can handle that? Demonstrate some of those survival skills you boast about in your books?" She asks, voice dripping with venom.
She comes closer to Catalina and the other, self-titled archaeologist. "Man this is a -fancy- temple. If something were to happen to it, I would probably know who to blame.", she says to nobody in particular, but loud enough for Pendergrast to hear.
"Oh, certainly. It would be a shame if it were destroyed and the archeological societies were to find out about the details." Catalina replies quietly, nodding at Yasami.
With the place secured, Mateo would come around towards Gerhard and check out the gear that he had upon him. Carrying explosive barrels through the jungle would be exhausting by one's self, as he peruses the man.
"In the hold, a repeat offender wouldn't be killed. He could be banished though with a gun, a knife, and a day's worth of food." Dario said with some agreement, looking back up at Catalina with her foot upon the man's chest. "It'll keep him from doing more harm and he can head back with his tail between his leg. If he lives, he deserves it. If he doesn't...we weren't there."
"In the hold, a repeat offender wouldn't be killed. He could be banished though with a gun, a knife, and a day's worth of food."
Caiten thinks for a moment. "His gun destroyed itself the first time it was fired though. I do not think that either you or Catalina would give him yours. But the idea is reasonable. Let him leave with his basic weapons and provisions."
"Perhaps no fire making tools in his provisions," says Lisi mildly, thanking Caiten for the scroll and ring.
He peruses the scroll, his eyes widening. "This is a very useful spell if one wants to be a giant er, sort of bird-lizard for a full minute. That could come in handy."
Gerhard sulked quietly as you searched through his things.
Between his person and his packs, he had quite an assortment of things. He was wearing leather armor, and the whip he'd used on Dario, as well as handwraps Cev was pretty sure were magical, given the power of the man's punch. All three had runes inscribed upon them. He had a satchel that was clearly magical -- when you tried to search inside your whole arm could disappear into it. He had grapeshot and gunpowder for his destroyed blunderbuss, and had four additional tindertwigs. In the bags of looted artifacts and such, he had six golden idols of jungle animals, a magical brass censer dangling on a length of chain, and a small, magical ceramic jar which is full of about half a gallon of sand.
Caiten looks over the equipment seized from Gerhard. He then asks Dario, who seems to be the one most knowledgeable of this form of civil penalty, "So how much of this is he allowed to keep?"
"I would think that we would leave him with nothing more than he left those who were in his charge previously; the product of letting him live should be that he learns something. Even learning resentment might help in this case ..."
Yasami seems conflicted.
"Well, on one hand, I would hate to prove his point by taking his stuff - making us bandits. Kind of."
She pauses, and flips her palm a few times. "On the other hand, he did just try to kill us and attacked Cevendyll a few days ago..."
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"Oh, I am with Cevendyll here." Dario says, looking back down at the sulking man. "His life is his reward and a hard-earned lesson. He just tried to kill all of us. I've shot people for less." Dario would say, slipping the satchel on his shoulders before grabbing the whip and unwrapping man's wrists. "Now the armor. You get the clothes on your back, a knife, and some food and water. You're an adventurer, that should be enough for you to get back to civilization safely as long as you keep your head low and your pride in check."
Catalina listens to this whole conversation thoughtfully, nodding along with the final decision. "Alright. I am satisfied with that," She says, leaning over Gerhard with her foot still on his chest. "Good luck, mustache man," She says, lifting her foot off of the fake archaeologist and grinning wickedly at him. She moves away from Gerhard and stands back out of the way, fidgeting with her rings.
"Good riddance." Oren says as Gerhard is released out into the jungle. "I hope that if he decides to end his own life, he won't drag someone else into it like he tried with us."
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Gerhard slowly clambered to his feet when Catalina allowed him, not saying a word. Dario handed him the items in question, the man's own waterskin and rations, as well as a knife. Gerhard took one last look at the temple, refused pointedly to look at any of you, and slunk off into the jungle, heading north.
The temple, now that it wasn't doomed to explode, seemed like a fine place to camp after all the excitement. You settle in, with time to appraise the items you liberated from Gerhard.
---------------------- The Next Day --------------------------
You continue to the northeast, knowing you're nearing your destination. You should reach the quarry by nightfall, with the option of waiting until morning, or trying to use the darkness to your advantage.
That is, if you don't run into trouble along the way.
"I smell blood!" Shadow announces, a creepy statement declared in an adorable voice. Rocco and Sulee can confirm as much, and following their noses leads you to a small patch of jungle where smears of blood and the signs of struggle mar the nearby foliage. A trail of broken branches leads further into the trees. A fight of some kind took place here.
"What's...oh bother, I got an ant in my eye. Easy there, friend..." Lisi spends a good minute carefully extracting the insect rather than killing it, completely ignoring the blood.
Caiten watches from the doorway of the temple until he can no longer see Gerhard. And then continues to watch for several minutes afterwards.
Eventually he comes back into the temple and finds Sulee. "I still don't really like leaving active enemies behind us."
Caiten spends a few hours that evening trying to understand and make a crude copy of the scroll for Remove Disease.
Afterwards he hands the notes to Sulee who spends a while reading through them.
"oh...there's a boot print there, humanoid," says Lisi, still rubbing his eye.