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-Thanks, buddy! ,- Kanubis shares with Thael few sips of the liquor before going to an opend wall-door.
Kanubis finds inside his bag merchant scales while he thinks around.
The dwarf sniffs gems enthusiastically and passionate. He surely knows how much these costs even lackin Aklo. He is not sure about books and scrolls but ready to put all the 20 pounds knowledge in a paper into his bag o holding.
Although K'Anubis comments that he won't carry Sevenfinger's dirty laundry unless really necessary to put him to rest.
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Kahwen is also not particularly interested in taking Sevenfinger's bedsheets, though the papers and scrolls probably have value for the Society beyond their monetary value so he's glad Kanubis takes them.
He squints at the ruby. "Didn't Sevenfingers use a ruby to get to another dimension? Maybe it was this one. We just need to figure out how to activate it."
He looks to the others hopefully, such things far beyond his purview though he can't help but fear that it's going to involve a blood sacrifice. That's just how this place seems to work.
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"Well, I'm going to take the sheets. So there!" Pai declares. And with that, she busies herself stripping the bed, muttering: "Make us go through a blood-portal and barely have anything in here. And he's wandering around the world causing trouble. Ugh!"
Once she's finished stuffing all the dirty laundry in her handy haversack, she announces: "Okay, guys. Looks like we got everything here. Sevenfingers is out there, planning a comeback we're gonna hate more than a kick in the teeth. So we gotta do something about that. If we can't figure out how to follow him with those rubies, then we gotta go back through the bloody portal to tell VC Benarry ASAP and get the word out. So we gotta give ourselves a time limit on figuring out those rubies. Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? What's reasonable and fast?" She shuts her mouth and looks at everyone else expectantly.
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"I doesn't know. If we had another day the Holy Mama would tell me, but maybe we doesn't?"
Nana scratches her head for a moment, then asks "Thael? Yous says Sevenfingers is comin' back here for his ship. So where's the ship? Is that the one I's was on when I's met Hrethnar? Can we get there? We's got rubies and they's the Voracious fuel, yes?"
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"Okay, let's boogie, people! We got the gems, the sheets, the books... Are we forgetting anything? Are we taking the talking mask guy? Yeah, let's take him. Seems boring in here, especially since no one's gonna be in here for like, ever." Pai hoists her handy haversack back onto her shoulders and flies back to the water room to eye that super-suspicious water feature.
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When you return now soaked in Hrethnar’s blood much like the rest of the room, Benarry and Hrethnar are both waiting for you. Hrethnar dismisses the blood-portal. Benarry hears your debrief
“I can send you to the Voracious—Sevenfingers’s flagship and my recent prison—using the machine,” Hrethnar says, gesturing to the strange contraption. “The Voracious sits in a pocket dimension between Golarion and Leng now. Once you board the ship, I can reconfigure the machine to once again act as the ship’s engine. That will leave you in Leng with a functional ship. I also know where the Mines of Baol-Kataar are located, so I can plot a course so the Voracious sails right to them.”
Hrethnar’s face then darkens. “That will put you on Sevenfingers’s trail ... but it is impossible to know what dangers you will face when you get there. And once again, I will not be able to join you. Time still flows in Leng, and my body would immediately age to dust if I travel there.”
Benarry grins, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of you. What
an adventure! But it’s not my adventure to take. Someone has to stay behind and make sure Hrethnar’s all right after he lost all that blood.”
you can tell that Benarry still doesn’t fully trust Hrethnar, so she believes it’s her duty to stay behind and watch him to make sure he doesn’t interfere with you in any way.
As Hrethnar steps off the wooden platform and crosses the
slime-covered floor, he pulls a large key made of glossy black
stone from his robes. He inserts the key into the machine, and a
glowing spatial rift appears in midair.
“Now,” he says, gesturing at the rift. “Step through the portal to reach the Voracious. I will then need about an hour to reconfigure the engine and plot the course to the mines for you, after which I will send the engine to the Voracious. Once you’ve dealt with Sevenfingers, feed Sevenfingers’s special rubies into the engine and the ship will return to Golarion. If you’re lucky, it’ll be somewhere in the Shackles, but don’t count on being able to return to Leng once you’ve come home. You’ll have one chance to do this right."
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Aww. She's such a warm-and-fuzzy-hearted person, caring for Hrenthar like that.
Pai was just about to zip through the portal when Nana asks her very important question. "Ooo, yeah, that matters! A lot." She stops short to hear the answer.
Before leaving, she smacks her forehead and calls out: "Hey Hrenthar and mask-guy! Anybody know if Sevenfingers is immune to anything? Like, electricity or whatever? 'Cause I really don't wanna hafta rely on my dagger again. That sucks a donkey's left hind hoof!"
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K'Anubis contemplate his Anubis-head boulder helmet for a while... while captain Benary and Hrethnar inspects their findings and provide additional instructions.
Once more when he sees a portal made of probably blood magic, K'Anubis nods: -Being Pathfinder is wonderful and amazing. But too stressful for my age. Alghough I wanted to visit Shakles for a long time...
The dwarf is obviously ready to step inside, but won't hesitate to wait and listen for more lore regarding Sevenfingers, Leng and the ship.
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"I know how to sail, Friend Mykel. Assuming sailing through whatever it is we'll be sailing through is like sailing on Golarion. And assuming the ship is simple or small enough for one person to handle or for me to tell the rest of you what to do to handle it," Kahwen says, clearly less than pleased with the prospect.
"It's very wet and most of the people there want to rob you," the tengu tells Kanubis about the place where he was born.
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Nana huffs for a moment. "I is very infamous!" she says indignantly. Then she chuckles along with Mykel.
"I's always got lots of friends to help. And anyways I hasn't had time for piratin' for years! I's been too busy Pathfinderin' and making babies! I is very good at it."
"I knows the Shackles well, I does. I's sailed all around there."
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B1. Sterncastle: The rear of the ship offers a clear view of
the empty main deck. A ship’s wheel made of darkwood and
brass is the main feature of this upper deck. A brass plaque
mounted on the mast behind the wheel is inscribed with the
name Voracious.
B2. Main Deck: The ship’s small rowboat is rotted and
useless, and a small storeroom at the fore of the ship is filled
with empty, rotting sea chests. The windowless captain’s cabin
at the rear of the main deck is devoid of furnishings and its
floor, ceiling, and walls are all painted pitch black. Though the
cabin once granted occupants the ability to commune with
otherworldly entities, this ability ceased functioning when
Hrethnar was rescued.
B3. Ship’s Hold: The hold’s ceiling is 10 feet high. The
cannons have been corroded by the alien environment of
Leng and are now no more than cannon-shaped lumps of
useless iron. The cabins to the fore and aft of this deck once
held slaves, but only iron shackles remain.
B4. Lower Hold: This hold’s ceiling is 10 feet high. The
hold contains many iron rings and chains affixed to the
floor for cargo
An hour after you all arrive aboard, Hrethnar finishes reconfiguring the Machine. A great gust of wind suddenly envelopes the Voracious and it
lurches forward through the choppy gray sea. you see the Machine from suddenly materialize and attach itself with an array of sucker-mouths and tentacular-like growths to the rear wall of the ship.
With its engine reconfigured, the Voracious picks up speed and the sea and the shoreline of Leng quickly become blurry outlines. After a few minutes, the ship abruptly comes to a halt.
When the Voracious lurches to a halt, the ship is floating adjacent to
a crumbling stone shore. Though no dock lines or other equipment secure the ship, the Voracious remains safely docked to the quay. A single-masted vessel much smaller than the Voracious is docked at an adjacent outcropping. Both stone quays extend to a gray, rocky shore that quickly rises to form a series of steep hills. A well-worn path of black stones leads away from the shore and forms a zigzagging trail that eventually leads to a yawning cave mouth several hundred feet up the hillside. An eerie red glow emanates from the cave mouth
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During the hour that they wait, Kahwen checks the ship. He tuts and clucks and shakes his head and ruffles his feathers with every examination.
"This thing needs a complete overhaul. Or to be scuttled," he says after his investigation is complete.
His feathers ruffle up as the Machine appears and he prepares to fight until realizing what it is. Then, he hurries to the wheel and opens his beak to call out orders to his crew.
When they come to a halt, his shoulders droop with disappointment, both in that he didn't get a chance to prove his nautical abilities and because he was really hoping the trip would take hours or days or weeks.
With a sigh, he follows Mykel.
"Let's check the other ship, first, Friend Mykel. There might still be threats lingering on it that we don't want at our back and it might be a better escape method than this...hulk," he gestures back toward the vessel that brought them.
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"Well, that red glow isn't ominous at all." Pai remarks flippantly. "Yeah, check out the other boat first. I don't know whether I want them to have left anyone on watch or not. OOOH! Maybe it's [/i]trapped![/i]" Pai flies straight for it, catches herself halfway there, and slaps her forehead. "D'oh! Wait for the others, goofus!"
Soaring back to the group, she chirps: "Hey! Uh, want me to fly around it to see what I can see? When you're in position and all that."
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The monolith seems anxious and frustrated as he appears at the ship. Vessels sad condition only raise his nods and farts. So mostly Kanubis proceed inspection with Kahven.
Kanubis is generous to Pai an let her fly while she can and scouting usually a good idea.
The dwarf is happy to find a relatively solid Leng shore and follows Mykel without long hesitations.
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"The Voracious is our way back! We's got to use the Machine, remember. Isn't it pretty?" Nana coos at the Machine and pets it. Her bestial companion snarls. "Don't be jealous, Kernuffle. Nana loves you too."
"We's can have a quick look at the other ship if yous want, but we's goin' to have to go up to that cave, I is sure. I can get us all up there when you is ready."
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"I think scouting would be an excellent idea, Friend Pai," Kahwen confirms.
He looks up at the cave. Now that they're not actually in the Gloomspires, he doesn't seem quite as nervous.
"I have no doubt you're right, Friend Nana. We will almost definitely have to enter the cave and almost definitely have to take the Voracious back but I don't want to leave an unexplored ship behind. They might have left guards and it might have magics that can take us back safely, as well and might be more...um...sea? worthy," the last is said hesitantly as he looks out at what can be called a sea.
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The smaller ship is a weather-beaten cutter called the
Princess of Mnar, the ship is abandoned.
with nothing of interest on the ship, the only remaining path is the mine, The winding trail to the entrance of the mines is 300 feet long.
The cave mouth is 15 feet wide and 12 feet high, and a 12-foot-high tunnel snakes deeper into the hillside. The walls and ceiling of the tunnel are roughly hewn, but the floors are level and clear of obstacles. The tunnel—and the entire mine—is bathed in a pale-red glow, thick spider webs cling
to the tunnel’s ceiling and walls in many places.
A 500-foot-deep chasm splits the mine tunnel here,The chasm constantly belches a thick, warm yellow mist,and vanishes into small rifts and cracks in the ceiling above. it is not Harmful, but it does obscure your vision like a very thick fog. However it does little about the Red Glow emanating from ahead.
A sturdy bridge made of wood and ropes spans the chasm.
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Unable to see far ahead, Pai can't tell if there's anyone within earshot, so she gestures dramatically at the group: she points at the bridge, puts her hands to her eyes and stares at, and points at both herself and Kahwen. Totally confident that she got her point across, she begins flying slowly near the bridge with her eyes trained on it, concentration furrowing her brow.
Partway through, she realizes that she ought to be listening for other people and whatnot, so she does that too. Multitasking, oh yeah!
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Back to the ship as far as became obvious that Leng awaits us, K'Anubis shows his ancient and grim book
Once read, the Pnakotic Manuscripts grant a +4 bonus on all Knowledge checks made pertaining to conjuration magic or the gods and magic of the Old Cults. In addition, the book functions as a spellbook and contains the following arcane spells: gate, greater teleport, greater planar binding, interplanetary teleport (see Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #14, page 54), lesser planar binding, planar binding, plane shift, teleport, teleport object, and teleportation circle.
Monolith cleans his nose before comment:
- I can carry this knowledge and insights no more. You should join this madness. But there we find power to remain and maybe prevail
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When team arrive to a cavern an bridge in front, K'Anubis activates Slipeers of venomous poison to climb as a spider. Just in case.
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Thinking K'Anubis has the right idea, Pai flies about 10' below the ceiling and shoots out past the chasm. Oh hey! The yellow fog's gone. She flies back to the group to tell them that the fog disappears once past the bridge, then pops back over again to stand guard while everyone else catches up to her.
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As you all start to go across the bridge and the gap, you can hear the chittering sounds as out from the shafts on the other side, as well as some of the eggs hatching, and out crawls several creatures
~Round 1~
Bold to Act
Pai
Red
White
Kernuffle
Blue
Black
Green
Yellow
Mykel
Purple
Cyan
Pink
Orange
K'anubis
Kahwen
Nana