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It's the next day. I said so a few posts back, you might've missed it. You should be full of spells again.
Jayma looks around with a sense of despair. The traps were beyond her abilities to affect and she was frustrated by her unaccustomed helplessness. She moves closer to Arlo and casts a spell to speed him up. She spins her staff above her head with ever increasing speed before pointing it at Arlo and saying, "Arlo acts alacritously!"
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Jayma begins to speed Arlo up to be able to get in and out of the trapped areas as quickly as possible. Iniquity tries something to see if it may work. He pricks his thumb on the edges of his armor and drops a couple drops of fresh blood onto the ground. Unfortunately this has no effect on the traps, besides setting off the final alcove as a cold winter's chill begins to freeze over the chamber.
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BOLD IS UP!:
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Jayma
➤ Salaish
➤ Arlo
Iniquity Pen
➤ Fin-Thir
Symeon
NE Trap
NW Trap
SE Trap
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The group has severe difficulties disabling the traps as Salaish chokes on the pollen, Fin-Thir feels the burning heat of the summer sun, and Iniquity Pen shakes as the winter's cold chill's through his armor.
Critical Success The trap has no effect.
Success The target takes 2d6+2 poison damage.
Failure The target takes 4d6+4 poison damage.
Critical Failure The target takes 4d6+4 poison damage and is drained 1. hour.
Critical Success The trap has no effect.
Success The target takes 2d6+2 fire damage.
Failure The target takes 4d6+4 fire damage.
Critical Failure: The target takes 4d6+4 fire damage and is dazzled for 1 hour.
Critical Success The trap has no effect.
Success The target takes 2d6+2 cold damage.
Failure The target takes 4d6+4 cold damage.
Critical Failure The target takes 4d6+4 cold damage and is enfeebled 1 for 1 hour.
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BOLD IS UP!:
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➤ Jayma
➤ Salaish
➤ Arlo
➤ Iniquity Pen
➤ Fin-Thir
➤ Symeon
NE Trap
NW Trap
SE Trap
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"Brr! What?" Iniquity shivers and then looks over his shoulder at his woodsman hireling. "Being too clever for my own good? It would have made good narative--What? Fine. Fine!" He turns his attention back to the trap and tries to follow the woodsman's instructions on distracting the sensors.
He then hurries out of the way to observe the results from less frigid location.
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Symeon roll his eyes at Iniquity's antics and levels a flat look at him. "If I drop in there, I'd like your promise that you won't leave me to freeze to death." Getting a confirmation, Symeon steps into the freezing winds and uses his knowledge of nature and the environment to try diabling the trap.
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As the now quickened Arlo heads off to battle his alcove trap, she calls out to him. "Do be careful dearest Arlo. Those traps are nothing to be trifled with." She shudders slightly at the memory of the poisonous pollen.
Turning around, she sees that Symeon is about to head into his own alcove. "Please wait there a moment, doctor." She moves across the room to get closer to Symeon. "Please accept this small token of my appreciation for your earlier assistance with my pollen problem." She once again spins her staff over her head and points it at the surgeon. "Doctor's duty demands dispatch!"
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Jayma speeds Symeon up to help get in and out of the trapped areas where Salaish continues to struggle with disarming the trapped mechanism and steps back out of the room.
As Salaish steps out of the pollen cloud Arlo manages to confuse the sensor with a small bit of primal magic.
Unfortunately Iniquity Pen doesn't quite favor as well as the chill begins to get to him, scotting out of the alcove for a minute to warm up. Symeon runs in and quickly disables the cold winds blowing out of the fog leaving one trap remaining.
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BOLD IS UP!:
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Jayma
Salaish
Arlo
Iniquity Pen
➤ Fin-Thir
Symeon
NW Trap
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Fin'thir sweats but easily stands within the heat of the Summer's sun as he is able to disrupt the final trap.
The sensors still function slightly as they seem to be slowly naturally recovering and look to be operational again in just a few short minutes.
Jayma walks through the fog and is pulled into a forest whose trees show off the full colors of autumn. She no longer hears anyone around her.
Iniquity Pen similarly also goes through the opposite wall of fog and finds himself standing in fields of flowers for spring.
After what feels like a long time, but is in fact only seconds Jayma and Iniquity Pen emerge from the interior corner of the alcove they just left with a key in hand, facing toward the keyhole in the inner corner of the L-shaped wall.
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Jayma extracts her key from the lock. "Either this isn't the right lock for this key or perhaps the keys need to be turned in a specific order; simultaneously even. Why, I wouldn't be surprised is a little bloodletting is also required."
She decides to experiment with a different lock. Remembering back to when Thadie discussed the formalized greetings involving the seasons and how a response would use the opposite season she crosses diagonally to the alcove. "Excuse me for a moment, Iniquity, but I'd like to see I have any more luck with my key in this lock." Jayma then tries her key in the lock and turns it.
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Listening to Jayma's instructions, Arlo walks into the Winter alcove and tries to locate the Winter key. He will turn it when instructed to.
"I'm in position over here," he yells to the group (if it even penetrates to the outside). "Just tell me when to turn it! If blood is required, I don't mind using some of mine."
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Symeon steps out of the mists with his shoes tied together and hanging from his shoulder, pants rolled to his knees, and bare feet covered in sand and slightly damp. "If we get some time after all of this, we should take a vacation in there! I just had the best hour of walking along a beautiful summer beach."
He moves to the keyhole next to the summer room and watches Jayma's attempt to use the autumn keyhole. He readies to try using the summer key on the summer keyhole incase order was more important.
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Arlo walks into the winter alcove and finds himself in a field of fresh snow, he too holding onto a key. While Jayma's key didn't work in the Autumn Alcove she tries out a theory and moves into the Spring Alcove and turns her key. This time the alcove shudders as the fog vanishes from the Autumn Alcove, clearing it up completely.
Arlo and Symeon's keys do not work in their respective Alcoves as Arlo tries the winter key in the winter alcove and Symeon tries the Summer key on the Summer keyhole.
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Arlo walks around the winterland marvelling at the sudden change in environment. But considering he's dressed for a party in the jungle, he hurries up and turns the key. When nothing happens, he heads out of the area, but not before scooping up a big ball of snow.
Back in the vault, he sneaks into the room and tries to catch Iniquity by surprise and throw the snowball against the back of his head.
Giggling madly, he dives into the Summer fog and tries to locate the keyhole there.
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Seeing the method that Jayma used the group circles around until they are all standing in opposite seasons and turn the keys.
As you turn the four keys, the vault door swings open, revealing a heavy portcullis, which retreats into the ceiling to reveal yet more doors. All in all, seven massive vault doors in row open in the span of seconds, allowing you to now descend the stairs into the vault’s heart.
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When the vault door opens, Jayma gives a little hop of excitement and claps her hands in glee. "I can't wait to have a look inside. I wonder what we'll find." Despite her impatience to enter the vault, she knows better than to lead the way into potential danger. She waits for her able defenders to go ahead of her and follows them in.
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As the group reconvenes, Arlo says, "Some of us got hit pretty hard by those traps. Should we take some time to patch each other up just on the other side of the door? Just in case there's a timer on how long the doors stay open. Lelzeshin is already inside the vaults, and I don't think there's another way out, so he'll have to come back this way if he wants to escape."
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You each take a few minutes to heal up as you enter into the Vault's Heart past the opened doors.
Beyond the seven vault doors, a breathtaking sight awaits—a sheer endless array of riches and gold, all surrounding a pedestal, atop which a wooden circlet rests. The circlet sprouts flowers and leaves that flourish, wither, and die in an endless cycle.
Lelzeshin growls, “The blood of my fellow Bhopanese is on your hands, outsiders. Your refusal forced my hand—forced my fellow citizens to give their lives for Bhopan’s future—but at least your corpses will make for convenient scapegoats. Once the dust settles, which story will the king believe—the one where the Pathfinders who just arrived in Bhopan were once again responsible for treason, or the one where his trusted steward caught on to the Pathfinder’s wily schemes and put his own life at risk to stop their treachery? You’ll be the villains in the legend of my heroism—of Bhopan’s rebirth!”
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BOLD IS UP!:
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➤ Arlo
➤ Fin-Thir
➤ Salaish
➤ Symeon
➤ Iniquity Pen
Lelzeshin (Red)
Jayma
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"Er... I don't think your story will play out as you think it will. The King confirmed that we were still present after the alarm bells rang, while you were nowhere to be found. I'm pretty sure half the guard knows you're the villain of this story by now."
While speaking, Arlo fiddles with his ram-headed ring, making sure he has a clean line of fire to Lelzeshin, raises his arm straight ahead, and activates the ring. With a loud , a large spectral ram jumps out of the ring and crashes into Lelzeshin.
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Iniquity strides toward the duplicitous Lelzeshin, singing an infectious and distracting little ditty that he learned in the orphanage.
♫ La lechuza, la lechuza
Hace "Shh", hace "Shh"
Todos calladitos como la lechuza
Que hace "Shh", que hace "Shh" ♫
He begins to slice the air with his exotic sword in a dynamic kata. "Lelzeshin, my lash will be the kindest you find after this treachery. It will be less painful to surrender now. The king wants you alive, but my companions have trouble holding back."
Critical Success The target takes a –1 status penalty to Perception checks and Will saves for 1 minute.
Success The target takes a –1 status penalty to Perception checks and Will saves for 1 round.
Critical Failure The target is temporarily immune to attempts to use Goblin Song for 1 hour.
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Symeon, bow strung and in hand, gives the advisor a shake of his head. He decides to move out of fireball formation, having learned his lesson ini Cheliax. "Might not want to stay clumped up like that. We make nice, easy targets just standing there." He then draws out an arrow and notches it, taking aim at the man and trying to figure out aiming.
Feeling that he has a good shot with his bow, he lets the arrow fly.
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Arlo sends a spectral ram from his ring right into the center of Lelzeshin's chest. He weathers the blow but stumbles back a couple of feet. Fin-Thir marks they steward as his prey and sends an arrow into the man.
Symeon believes himself to have a clean shot and ends up missing as his arrow strikes the wall behind Lelzeshin. Iniquity Pen begins to sing, very off key, and this sets Lelzeshin's skin on edge as he shakes in fright.
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BOLD IS UP!:
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Arlo
Fin-Thir
➤ Salaish
Symeon
Iniquity Pen
Lelzeshin (Red)
Jayma
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Recalling all the fireballs the party was throwing around in the jungle, Salaish takes Symeon's advice to heart. "Oh! Right!" As she skitters off to the side, she begins to cast Inspire Courage and sing a song to bolster her team's abilities.
"You had me several hours ago when I was still quite naive
Well you said that we made such a useful team and that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was peace
I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee clouds in my coffee and
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I bet you think this song is about you
Don't you don't you don't you?"
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Salaish inspires her companions as several mirrored-like images begin to shimmer from within the mirrors. Four reflections of Lelzeshin slowly step forth from the mirrors into the room that cover the floor to the ceiling.
The mirrored Lelzeshin's all converged on your group in pairs with drawn Kukris.
The mirrored Lelzeshin's all miss as they are still adapting to the new physical world. The real Lelzeshin strides in towards Iniquity Pen as he feints to the side.
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BOLD IS UP!:
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➤ Arlo
➤ Fin-Thir
➤ Salaish
➤ Symeon
➤ Iniquity Pen
Lelzeshin (Green)
Lelzeshin (Yellow)
Lelzeshin (Blue)
Lelzeshin (Pink)
Lelzeshin (Red)
➤ Jayma
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When Jayma sees Lelzeshin waiting for them in the vault, she is not taken aback in the least. "Ah, there you are Lelzeshin. Why am I not surprised to see you here. When we heard the vault was being breached, you were the first person that came to mind. I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish here, but the writing of history is usually left to the victors; the probability of you coming out of this as the protagonist of the piece is practically nil."
This time, both her companions and Lelzeshin react faster than she to the situation and Jayma is left behind as the action unfolds before her. When she's finally in a position to act, she finds herself facing multiple Lelzeshins. She briefly considers filling the vault with a sea of flame but her quicker colleagues had already entered the room and she suspects the king would not appreciate his treasures being either pulverized, carbonized, or most likely, both. Instead, she opts for a more targeted approach.
With her vanity boosted by Salaish's inspiring ditty, Jayma raises her arm high as the head of her staff bursts into flames. Focusing the wild magic coursing through her veins on the small blaze, she quickly forms it into a tight ball of brilliant white concentrated heat. Once she's satisfied, she calls out, "Sneaky seneschals should sizzle," and pounds the tip of her staff down hard onto the vault floor three times: <crack!, crack!, crack!>. With every strike of her staff, a blast of heat shoots out and seeks out a different Lelzeshin.
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Suddenly, Arlo's friends are being flanked by Lelzeshin-duplicates. Cursing that he's already used his ring, Arlo improvises.
He enters the room , then starts casting a spell. Clouds start to form around Green's head, and start pressing in on his eyes. Soon, his entire face is obscured by angry thunderclouds.
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"Ouch!" Iniquity yelps as the steward's blade cuts his flesh. "I'm not sure which hurt more, your unilluminating villainous monologue or that knife. You're leaving the audience ignorant of your motivation." He makes a pair of thrusts toward Lelzeshin, each aimed to incapacitate rather than kill. "Absent that, you just seem like a psychopath. Doing wrong for the sake of doing wrong." The Shelynite then raises his shield.
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Jayma sends a trio of scorching rays into the room, severely burning several of the mirrored Lelzeshin. One of the mirrored assailants can't handle the heat of the scorching ray as it shatters across the floor.
The second mirrored Lelzeshin dives to the side as it nimbly dodges the scorching ray.
Lelzeshin himself gets burned as the scorching ray sears into his robes.
As Arlo passes by one of the mirrored copies begins to grasp around in blindness while Salaish begins to inspire the party.
Iniquity Pen's asp coil snaps into Lelzeshin's hand as he barks in pain.
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BOLD IS UP!:
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Arlo
➤ Fin-Thir
Salaish
➤ Symeon
Iniquity Pen
Lelzeshin (Green)
Lelzeshin (Yellow)
Lelzeshin (Pink)
Lelzeshin (Red)
Jayma
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Symeon takes a step back from the mirror image and takes a second to see about taking it out.
He gives a smirk as he notices that this thing left itself open to an attack.
He then moves back up against the wall into a position to be able to help anyone who needs it.
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Fin-Thir's magical shot misses Lelzeshin. Symeon steps back and sends his own arrow into one of the mirrored versions of the Advisor. The arrow cracks the mirror but its fractured form remains standing. Unfortunately Symeon doesn't recall much about what these mirrored versions could possibly be.
The mirrored Lelzeshin's begin to carry out their own retribution as they move in behind Salaish, Iniquity and Arlo with their deadly Kukri's. One of the mirrored copies stumbles around blindly as it tries to seek out the sounds of combat in the distance.
The blinded one hears Salaish and Iniquity Pen's fighting with the real Lelzeshin.
The mirrored versions all miss as Iniquity Pen's shield deflects the strike. The real Lelzeshin uses the mirrors to try and distract Iniquity as he slashes his own kukri at the champion.
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BOLD IS UP!:
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➤ Arlo
➤ Fin-Thir
➤ Salaish
➤ Symeon
➤ Iniquity Pen
Lelzeshin (Green)
Lelzeshin (Yellow)
Lelzeshin (Pink)
Lelzeshin (Red)
➤ Jayma
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Given the relative success of her last spell, Jayma sees no real reason to change tactics just yet. With Salaish's song still lingering in the air, Jayma once again goes through the same motions until the super-heated ball of energy floats above her staff. "Time to toast treacherous toadies. <crack!, crack!, crack!>. With every strike of her staff, a blast of heat shoots out and seeks out a different Lelzeshin.