You rush to the walls of Osibu to delay the oncoming attackers. When you arrive, you can see a brigade of warriors wearing the sun regalia of Walkena's followers. The armies of Mzali are attacking the City of Gold!
The sun warriors are using their magic to split up the battlefield, creating walls of fire and blade barriers to separate Osibu's defenders into manageable groups. These troops must be defeated quickly if the Osibans are to prevail.
"Come, Issi! Let's show them how we do it!" Sadiki cries.
The lightning wreaks havoc among the brigades, taking out several of the sun warriors. They turn their wrath upon you, launching a pair of fireballs into your midst!
"How about this?" Sadiki asks. She hurls a globe of freezing darkness into the brigades' midst, wounding quite a number of the enemies. Sadiki zaps some with an icy beam, further wounding them. With little other recourse, the brigades send more fireballs heading the sisters' way, but once more the fire magic proves ineffective against the warded women. Another blast of magic from the sisters scatters the surviving soldiers, giving the Osiban forces the opportunity they need to turn the tide of battle.
Walkena's forces retreat, but the siege rages on. You have an opportunity to rest for about 30 minutes, during which time the Osiban leaders call upon jungle creatures and other natural forces to supplement the warriors. Great gusts of wind, shrieking monkeys, and long-toothed predators arrive to menace the besiegers.
The jungle rumbles as an enormous living siege engine arrives to bolster the armies of Mzali! The gargantuan construct is built in the image of Walkena, and it immediately begins to burn through the Tangle and start melting the city walls to provide more openings for the troops. You must stop it!
As you draw near, the construct turns to face you. It collects solar energy and then fires it in a deadly beam towards you!
Sadiki zaps the construct with a disintegrate beam, but it resists some of its effects. The sun spire fires beams of sunfire at Issi as she gets near, but her fiery body absorbs the blasts without harm to her!
Issi's blade is blunted somewhat by the hardness of the construct. Sadiki hits with another disintegrate beam that doesn't do much damage. The construct swings its arms at Issi, landing a hit.
The construct completely resists Sadiki's next disintegrate spell, but Issi scores a critical hit, cracking open its outer shell of stone and dealing significant damage! It pummels her again and again, but she remains standing.
Issi's blade carves deep into the heart of the construct, and it topples over and lies still! The defenders of Osibu cheer as the fiery magus flies to her sister's side for healing.
You have a few moment's peace, enough time to heal and refocus. The defenders’ ritual is nearly complete, but Walkena has one final weapon in his arsenal to overwhelm Osibu. Walkena's avatar arrives in a burning ray of sunlight near the center of the city and looks like a towering version of the god himself! Dimari-Diji and Umanja‑jinga initially panic, thinking Walkena means to interrupt their ritual, but the avatar is focused on the two of you.
"Issi! Sadiki! You meddlesome fools have no idea the consequences of your actions here. I will burn straight through your bodies, and I will reduce your souls to ash!"
Walkena's avatar moves in close to you, firing off a prismatic spray!
Sadiki resists the poison, while Issi is able to reverse the slow petrification process and avoid turning to stone! Sadiki sends a cone of cold hurtling towards Walkena's avatar, who cries out in pain. He is weak to cold!
"You dare? I will destroy you!" he proclaims as he radiates intense sunlight. But then, a voice rings through the sky--the voice of Dajermube, the newly ascended sun god! "Walkena! These sisters are under my protection! You are not deserving of the might granted to you by the sun and your ancestors!"
Suddenly, a shadow passes over the sun, as a total eclipse occurs! A strange twilight descends over the battlefield, and Walkena sags, weakened as he is temporarily cut off rom the source of his power!
"I... will... destroy you!" he insists, flying up to attack Sadiki with his spear!
Sadiki lays hands on herself while standing firm, blasting Walkena's avatar with more cold. Issi slices into the avatar with her blade, and while he is hurting, Walkena continues to attack, stabbing Sadiki again with his spear!
Sadiki grimaces. "He's all yours!" she shouts before dimension door-ing to safety!
Walkena parries Issi's strikes as he turns his fury upon the magus!
Issi slices the avatar, but he returns the favor, stabbing her twice. Still, it is clear Walkena's power is flagging!
Before Walkena can chase after Issi, Sadiki returns to the fight, having taken the time to heal herself some more. She blasts Walkena with another cone of cold, and once more he proves too slow to avoid the blast! The icy shards tear through his fiery body, and he groans and staggers.
As the avatar crumples, Dimari-Diji, Umanja-jinga, and the Chayups complete their ritual! A powerful enchantment washes across all of Walkena’s forces. The attack suddenly ends and the forces retreat from the city, compelled to march away from Osibu as quickly as they can.
The magic washes over the avatar as well, using it as a conduit to Walkena himself just as the avatar is destroyed. Through this connection, Walkena himself becomes a conduit for the ritual, causing himself and anyone else in Mzali with knowledge of Osibu’s location to forget about the city entirely!
Life in Osibu returns to normal after the attack. Umanja-Jinga and Dimari-Diji thank you for your help in defending the Golden City. As a token of his gratitude, Dimari-Diji offers to travel to Nantambu and share some of his knowledge with the Magaambya.
Once you have finished your business in the Golden City and said your goodbyes, Dimari-Diji travels with you to the Magaambya to offer his insight and knowledge on Osibu and primal magic to the academy. The arboreal is something of a sensation, with students and teachers alike flocking to his side to learn all they can from one of Golarion’s oldest living creatures. Janatimo in particular is overjoyed at the opportunity to add hundreds of new stories to the Magaambya’s archives.
Dimari-Diji talks about Osibu, but only as a fantastical, mythical place, never confirming whether it actually exists. He weaves your services to the city into these tales, referring to you not by name, but as regal beings of the sort represented by their masks. Each of the arboreal’s stories contains truths about Osibu’s history, culture, and people without giving any details that could direct anyone to the city itself.
Before he leaves after a few weeks’ time—as he can’t remain far from the Nemesis Well for long—Dimari-Diji meets with High Sun-Mage Oyamba and the two of you. He thanks you and Oyamba for continuing the legacy of Old-Mage Jatembe and the Ten Magic Warriors, and for maintaining the Magaambya after all these years. He mentions that Jatembe will be happy to hear that the Magaambya is in good hands next time the two meet.
Oyamba reacts with surprise to hear that Old-Mage Jatembe still lives! Oyamba asks if Dimari-Diji knows Jatembe’s current whereabouts. Dimari-Diji gives a surprised chortle at Oyamba’s question, commenting that he believed everyone knew where Jatembe was. He gives a smile and explains that Jatembe is doing important work of some kind on the planet Akiton. If the Magaambyans wish to meet him, all they need to do is travel through the Doorway to the Red Star. With that, Dimari‑Diji exits the academy to make his journey home...
Chapter 5: Doorway to the Red Star
After Dimari-Diji's declaration, the wheels begin to turn at the exciting prospect of meeting the legendary founder of the Magaambya. However, two things stand in the way of immediately setting off to the legendary Doorway to the Red Star.
First, there’s the matter of your responsibilities as teachers at the Magaambya. A new academic semester is about to begin, and you are expected to teach at the school for these 3 months.
More significantly, even a cursory look into the school’s records about Akiton and the Doorway to the Red Star reveals that the portal doesn’t always function. It can offer transport between Golarion and Akiton only when the two planets are in a proper alignment, which occurs only a couple of times each year. This alignment is based on a complex combination of the two planets’ physical locations in the solar system, the ebb and rise of regional magical energies around both sides of the portal, and other occult factors. As it works out, the next window for using the Doorway to the Red Star will open not long after the upcoming semester ends, giving you not only time to meet your responsibilities, but to organize a new expedition to the infamous ruins.
Beyond this, Ahassunu can offer the heroes a few more places to start their research. She points out that the area around the Doorway is currently under the protection of dedicated guards called the Iobane, and to reach the doorway in the first place, the heroes need the support of those Zenj magi. Preparing a proper gift for them would be a step in the right direction—since they’re a culture of warriors and spellcasters, gifts of magic staves or magic weapons are a good idea.
Ahassunu warns, though, that recently, for reasons on which no one is quite clear, the Iobane have taken a dim view of the Magaambya, which may complicate attempts to reestablish diplomatic relations with the Iobane. If the heroes manage to do so, they’ll not only secure access to the Doorway to the Red Star, but rebuild a damaged relationship in the process.
The following research topics use the research rules:
DOORWAY TO THE RED STAR
Maximum RP 2
Research Checks DC 34 Academia Lore or Library Lore, DC 36 Religion
THE IOBANE
Maximum RP 2
Research Checks DC 25 Academia Lore or Library Lore, DC 27 Arcana
KING OF BITING ANTS
Maximum RP 2
Research Checks DC 32 Academia Lore or Library Lore, DC 34 Occultism
The Iobane are a sect of Zenj magi who can trace their lineage back to the Ten Magic Warriors who, alongside Jatembe, fought against the King of Biting Ants and other threats to Golarion. They place significant value on items once owned by any of the Ten Magic Warriors, or items that present additional information about these fabled warriors.
The Iobane currently guarding the plaza around the Doorway to the Red Star are led by Warder-Chief Mpondo, who has a well-known reputation for being stern but fair. Those who seek to study or pass through the Doorway to the Red Star are wise to respect Warder-Chief Mpondo by using his full title when addressing him and avoiding speaking ill of any of the Zenj.
***
As you are finishing up your research on the Iobane, the elf summoner Lesedi approaches you. "Hey! I heard you are gearing up to head through the Doorway to the Red Star soon! You know, portals to strange or dangerous areas are my specialty, but regrettably, my knowledge of Akiton is limited. And I've heard that portal is pretty finicky. Space travel would have been a superior method to reach the Red Planet had the nascent spacefaring technology of the nation of Lirgen not been destroyed a century ago by the Eye of Abendego."
She sighs. "Ah, well. Anyway, I wonder if you two ladies could help me out? I need some assistants for my advanced summoning class. For this lesson, I'm hoping to show the class a conjuration ritual in progress, including its results. Since I can’t fit an entire day’s worth of a planar binding or a similar ritual in a single class session, though, I'd like you to come to Tireless Hall and start the ritual early, behind a curtain on the lecture hall’s stage. My plan is to start the class when you have an hour left in the 8 hours needed to perform the ritual, spend 45 minutes of the class summarizing the ritual’s procedure, and then part the curtain to allow the class to watch the final 15 minutes of the ritual.
"I'd like you to use the planar binding ritual to conjure a lillend azata, and then request the azata to perform a short concert of haunting Elysian music. I'll teach you the ritual and provide the costly components for it. What do you say? Will you help me?"
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"Of course." Issi replies, Lesedi is one of her favourite peers after-all. "We'll be happy to help. You should really pick a genie though, they're way more interesting than azatas!"
It's an ongoing joke between the two, Issi maintains the supremacy of genies over all other extra-planar beings and Lesedi tries to convince her otherwise.
"Just let us know when and where. I'll have my class come as well, it'll be useful for them."
"Maybe I'll call a genie next time!" Lesedi says with a grin.
The day of the class arrives, and the sisters toil behind the scenes to enact the planar binding ritual...
You can hear Lesedi lecturing the classes as you draw near the end of the lengthy planar binding ritual. The curtains rise in the last few minutes, allowing the students watch as you intone the last syllables and make the last few arcane gestures needed. With a bloom of radiant light, a lillend azata appears on the stage!
"Oh! I do so love an audience," the lillend demurs, amused at the circumstances of their summoning.
Sadiki diplomatically requests that the azata put on an impromptu concert for the students in the theater. The being agrees, and everybody is treated to the beautiful music of Elysium. The lillend bows and drinks in the applause once the concert has completed, then bids farewell and returns to the Outer Planes.
Once class has been dismissed, Lesedi can't help but run up and give Issi a hug, the diminutive elf wrapping her arms around the magus. "That was perfect! Thank you so much!" she gushes.
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"I nearly flubbed it an hour ago." Issi admits with a rueful smile. "I'm glad it worked out for you though." There's an odd charge in the air and Issi looks down at Lesedi and then grasps her courage in both hands, dipping down to kiss the elf's pale lips. It's a brief kiss, there are still students filing out and Sadiki is right there but faint heart never won fair lady...
Lesedi's golden eyes widen as Issi's lips meet hers. Sadiki's jaw drops for a moment before she turns away with a smile, and several of the students murmur at the intimate moment between their professors.
"Issi! I... perhaps we should go somewhere more private?" the elf says, pulling the magus into a small office elsewhere in Tireless Hall. Once the two are alone, Lesedi turns and looks up at Issi.
"Sorry. That was unexpected... but not unwelcome," Lesedi says once the two women are alone. "Is there something you want to say to me, Issi?"
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"Probably... but I'd prefer to kiss you again, if you don't mind." Issi replies, feeling suddenly shy. Lesedi is beautiful, clever, so much older than her, a genius, beautiful. Still, she's got about fifteen seconds of bravery left so she goes for another kiss and prayers to Shelyn, the Radiant Twins and every other god of love out there that this might just be right.
This time, Lesedi proves to be far more receptive to the kiss. She closes her eyes and lets Issi's lips explore her own, letting out a soft moan of pleasure.
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"I like you Lesedi." Issi says when their lips part, before the elf pulls back far enough for her to actually see Lesedi's expression. "I like you and I've been angry and scared for ages, about loads of stuff, so I finally decided to do something about it. Even if I can only be brave for one minute. So I kissed you, and... I... umm... would you like to go to dinner with me sometime?"
For all her brains this is the bit of interaction that Issi has always sucked at and her nerves surge as she waits for Lesedi to reply.
Lesedi smiles up at Issi. "Yes. Yes, dinner sounds lovely," the elf says. "But before we go any further, I'd like to know what it is you're looking for. Do you just want to have some casual fun for a while, or are you interested in something more long-term? I am an elf and you are a human. There are... tricky bits to worry about if it's the latter choice."
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"I'm... not actually human." Issi says, suddenly worried about how that particular tidbit might ruin the situation. "Sadiki and I were... not always as we are now. We went to a genie and she blessed us. We were both changed by that. I'm more than a little bit genie now. Although I have no idea what that'll do to me in the long term..."
She trails off as her mind heads down some fascinating pathways of inquiry and it isn't until Lesedi cocks an amused eyebrow that Issi snaps back to the situation.
"Right, yeah, dinner... umm... I don't know." She confesses. "I like you Lesedi, a lot. But the only other relationship I've had... didn't last long. So I don't... I don't know what a relationship really is... I'm sorry. Can we just do dinner and try to figure it out from there?"
Lesedi nods. "Of course. Pick the time and place, and I'll be ready. I need to get ready for my next class now, but... I'll see you later."
She gives Issi a kiss on the cheek before heading off.
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Issi, thankfully, had cancelled all her classes for the day so that she could help with Lesedi's ritual and is therefore unencumbered by students for the rest of the day.
By the time she makes it home, after a rather roundabout route searching for restaurants, she's practically skipping as the glee that has been building inside her for her entire trip finally expresses itself.
"I've got a date!" She announces loudly as she bursts through the door.
Sadiki had been working on her lesson plans before Issi burst into the house. Now, though, she hops up from her desk and grins. "Hooray! Issi, I'm so happy for you!" She rushes over to give her sister a hug. "I think you and Lesedi make a very cute couple!"
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"I hope so!" Issi replies returning the hug with vigor. "I'm trying to find a nice place we can go for dinner. Maybe the new one towards the outer wall?"
Then she frowns and the conversation turns serious. "Hey Sad, you know how we aren't exactly human any more... what do you think that's actually done to us? Are we going to live longer or shorter... Lesedi asked and I didn't actually know the answer..."
"Hmm. That is a good question," Sadiki says. "We've been infused with the elemental power of the genies. But I believe similar beings exist, and their lifespan is akin to those of their original ancestries. So most likely, we will still live a normal human lifetime. Although, powerful magic can extend that lifespan. Just look at Old Mage Jatembe!"
"Of course. Let's start planning for that..." Sadiki says.
***
A few more days pass as you continue teaching your classes. Soon, another of your compatriots approaches you.
Izem Mezitani specializes in exploration and archaeology but is an expert in many fields. A somewhat controversial figure, Izem has nearly as many doctorates from prestigious universities as he has outstanding arrest warrants from places as far as Corentyn and Thronestep. The handsome aasimar approaches you in between your classes one day.
"Good day! I wanted to talk to you two ladies about potentially joining your expedition to the Doorway to the Red Star. I don’t intend to get in your way. I have some independent research I want to undertake in the ruined complex around the Doorway itself. I hope this is an amenable proposition."
Regardless of your response, Izem brings up another concern. "I am certain that someone has been following me since we returned from Mzali. Whoever it is has also been sneaking into my home while I'm not there and rifling through my things. I'm worried it might be a bounty hunter or assassin. I hope you will help me determine the invader’s identity—and perhaps dissuade them from their mission, if my suspicions are correct.
"My plan is straightforward: while I'm teaching my next class, I’d like you to hide in my apartment and wait for a few hours see if anyone enters. If someone does show up, confront them, determine what they’re after, and find out what it will take to get them to leave me alone. Will you help?"
Izem nods emphatically. "Yes, of course! I am grateful for the opportunity."
He shows the two of you to his home. Spacious and nearly palatial, Izem’s apartment has plentiful side rooms and receiving areas where you can lie in wait undetected. You hunker down and wait to see who shows up. You don't need to wait long before you have proof of Izem’s fears, but you might not expect the truth when it flutters in, glittering and giggling.
A small group of six pixies appear in the apartment's main room. They quickly begin to spread out through the home, frolicking and playing among Izem's belongings. The tiny fey do not immediately notice you watching.
Sadiki gives her sister a bemused smile and steps out. "Hello, little ones. Having fun?"
The pixies cry out and fall to their knees and terror and shame. "Oh no! You caught us!" one cries.
"We're sorry! We didn't mean any harm!" another whines.
"Are you going to tell Izem? We were trying to keep our admiration a secret! Oh, this is so mortifying!" says a third fey.