Ezgara continues his story, now the cat is getting wet in the rain and rather bedraggled. The old elg giggles as he flings a surge of lightning at Salah.
Odioki continues his wait and shoot game with the outsider.
HP 10/24
AC 19 (+1 vs. traps)
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +6 (+1 vs. traps)
Effects:
With the evil centaur caught between Onye and herself, she brings her staff to bear. "We warned you," she says, her calm voice making it a quiet remonstrance to the killer instead of any sort of boast.
She steps back to force the creature to come after her.
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Odioki keeps his hand cannon pointed right at the tiny ball of fury. Sala avoids the small shock as Deahalya's staff whips around, breaking the centaur's jaw, then neck.
On the table Odioki finds a small silver knife and ends the Augur's regeneration.
The centaur has:
And also a very strange cloak of vines and fly traps tht bite at anything that comes near.
Odioki takes a look at the cloak but has no idea.
"Seems warm," he says.
Ezgara is too busy rambling to himself. Did she see? See how miserable and insignificant she is before her vertebraee cracked? Is there a bounty for our good deed? Gold for a wanted killer?
"Such a waste," Daehalya says, "but this cloak is potentially valuable. It's clearly magical."
After healing everyone up Ezgara searches the room hungrily scrounging for food scraps. He moves by the fireplace to see if there's any stew, and look under the chair for loose coins. Silver spoons… coppers… is there sour wine? COuld there be? All for Ezgara!
Then he moves to the leftmost door.
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This cloak appears to be woven from a thousand living leaves, hungry for flesh and eager to defend the cloak's wearer. Daehalya recognizes it as a [url]https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1820#:~:text=Cloak%20of%20Gnawing%2 0LeavesItem%203%2B&text=Activate%20envision%3B%20Frequency%20once%20per ,DC%2017%20Reflex%20saving%20throw.]Cloak of Gnawing leaves[/url]
Once healed you head through the western door. Ten framed paintings line the western side of this long corridor. Each painting glows softly as the depicted figures silently move again and again through short, repeating scenes.
The paintings each depict a different moment from Kaneepo’s long life. The first portrays Kaneepo awakening in a dark, mossy bower on the First World, and the second shows Kaneepo kneeling before a massive cloaked fey of chaotic darkness, Count Ranalc. The paintings continue in this fashion showing scenes of Kaneepo finding the Seventh Arch, being imprisoned in this tree stump, breaking free, creating the obnubilate curse, and so forth.
The First World is a primal cauldron of spontaneous creation and experimental evolution. From the beginning, the First World has churned out inexplicable creatures that defy mortal logic. Kaneepo the Slim is one such entity.
The fey trickster called Kaneepo woke, fully formed, thousands of years ago in the shadowy realm of Nighthold. Kaneepo initially struggled with their identity, bereft of any kin after which to model themself. Years of mingling with other fey eventually suggested kinship with bogeys and bogeymen, given their similarly slender forms and unsettling appetites. Yet the match was far from perfect: unlike the stronger bogeymen who feed on souls and fear, Kaneepo was drawn to victims’ shadows and felt compelled to drink their umbral auras. Disgusted by the shadow drinker’s “perversion” and threatened by the idea that Kaneepo might represent the future of their kind, the other bogeys shunned Kaneepo.
Kaneepo then sought shelter in the court of Count Ranalc, Eldest of shadows and chaos. Yet they still felt eternally alone. As their loneliness curdled to resentment, Kaneepo began to see themself as the progenitor of a new fey race, destined to rule a realm of their own. The only question was how. One day, while wandering the wild shadow forests of Nighthold, Kaneepo came upon the gnawed corpse of a human bearing a strange carved leaf. Tracing the human’s trail, Kaneepo found a curious stone arch and passed through it, using the carved leaf as the gate’s key. They emerged into the forest known today as the Wilewood.
Kaneepo immediately recognized the opportunity for what it was and swiftly set about hunting the area’s elves, glutting themself on unprotected elven shadows. They began kidnapping elves who caught their fancy and experimented on each one with rituals designed to evolve them into a creature just like Kaneepo. But all these experiments failed, each ritual killing its victim.
Unfortunately for Kaneepo, this was long before Earthfall, at the height of elven power. Soon, a group of elven heroes banded together to stop the fey menace. They hauled Kaneepo back through the Seventh Arch to the First World, where they imprisoned the vile trickster inside the stump of a vast tree. The adventurers took the arch’s gate key with them to ensure Kaneepo would be stranded.
And there Kaneepo sat as millennia passed.
The First World is nothing if not tumultuous, and Nighthold is among its most mutable regions. In time, the flexing of the planar fabric broke the lock on Kaneepo’s prison. Kaneepo was pleasantly surprised to discover that their stump prison had served as a cocoon, allowing them time to come into their full power. Kaneepo no longer had the Seventh Arch’s gate key, but an age of primal metamorphosis had given them the power to shape the little patch of First World around their tree stump. Through this shaping power, Kaneepo created breaches that connected to the Material Plane. Freed and filled with zeal, the vengeful fey dedicated themself to seeking revenge against their elven persecutors. Kaneepo developed the perfect apocalyptic weapon which harnessed the magic of the Seventh Arch: the obnubilate curse.
Their victory was cut short, however. While Kaneepo was locked away, Earthfall had sent most elves fleeing to distant Sovyrian. Kaneepo was dismayed to realize that their perfect weapon, crafted specifically to afflict elves, targeted a population that was already in decline. Despondent, Kaneepo retreated to the First World, back into the patch of shadow-forest they controlled, an area now known as the Thinlands. Over the centuries that followed, Kaneepo hunted the other humanoids who dwelled near the Wilewood and gradually resumed their attempts to create more of their kind. When elves finally returned to Golarion, Kaneepo was pleased to discover that the obnubilate curse still worked, though it didn’t spread nearly so far as they’d hoped. Heartened but still afraid of drawing attention, the fey began slowly increasing their hunting, recruiting the local gorgas into their quest.
Disturbingly, the final painting in the series shows yourselves during your encounter at the Seventh Arch with the druids and gorga. In the scene’s background, Kaneepo watches from the trees with their trademark silent grin.
★ -- ★ -- ★ -- ★
With little more than paintings in the room you continue to press onward. Jars of pigment and canvases in the process of being stretched line the walls of this artist’s studio. An easel with a half-finished painting stands in the center of the room, and a nest of blankets occupies the western wall.
The half-finished painting shows Kaneepo sitting on a leafy wooden throne, while the sketched-in forms of dying elves writhe in agony at the Slim’s feet.
While most of the painting supplies here are ordinary enough, a few bottles of glowing goo.
"Onye Dinta understands the threads of the First World for they form the pattern that serves as the reference for creation," the amurrun says. "Oney Dinta can tell you a story, if the tribe desires to listen..."
"As if the centaur weren't enough," Daehalya says sadly. "I think it's clear why Findeladlara guided our feet this way. This Kaneepo must be stopped."
She sets her jaw grimly.
Ezgara stares at the pictures. Yes, yes. Soften paint in mouth, and it leads to madness. Softens brain. Encephalopathic painters. He points. They have utterly failed to dramatize the puerile narcissism of Donkey. HA! He looks at the other paintings. Absurd Monomania. Deserving of obliteration. Fools. They never kill, they never finish the job. We will. The old elf's voice rises as he pieces together the painting, understanding the story of how his people were targeted and hurt. Obnubilate? Obliterate!
Odioki agrees and gives Daehalya a nod.
"Are we to trap them in a tree again?"
"Only if we can't destroy them for good," Daehalya replies. "But clearly that is what we should do if we can."
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Gathering the bombs you make your way to the library. Ladders connect the floor of this two-story library to three separate balconies. Books, scrolls, and scattered pages are crammed every which way into shelves and stacks carved from the tree’s own wood. A firefly chandelier hangs from the domed center of the ceiling thirty feet above.
Within the library is a four-armed creature that looks like a cross between a human and a black and ochre termite. Its body and arms display glowing runes as it is hunched over a table studying a thick leather-bound tome.
"Onye Dinta who prowls the edges of the world greets the one who studies," the catfolk steps into the light to speak in sylvan. "Does the one who studies serve Kaneepo or the forces of creation?"
Daehalya tries to figure out what the heck the creature is as Onye takes a more direct route.
Secreting acid? Saliva? Ezgara recalls knowledge using nature if possible.
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We have some seriously difficult roads ahead of us if the paintings reflect an accurate history! Doesn't some of these events seem terribly high magic'd?
We might be in waaaay over our heads. An ancient evil that has finally gotten free because he could wait long enough? Creating a virus that affects elves - his enemy. That's some major mojo.
I'm up for going after this key. I'm not scared or anything. I just want to put the obvious out there. We need more information, and we need more allies.
Knowing how the arrival of the gates took out his elf virus, I think that's our first chore. Knowing how to undermine The Slim Man's magics. That, and how to protect our shadows. Am I right in understanding that people die because he eats their shadows?
*****
to the insectoid creature.
Do you speak common? If so, we'd like to parlay!
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Ezgara and Onye recognize this creature as a D'ziriak, a resident from the Plane of Shadow. The colorful runes that decorate a d'ziriak's body create dim light. The natural bioluminescence is specially adapted to the Shadow Plane, able to overcome magical darkness
These strange creatures are native to the Plane of Shadows, where their colorful nature is in opposition to that realm's overwhelmingly monochromatic palette. Averaging 7 feet in height, D'ziriaks have four arms, two legs, and a termite-like abdomen. The larger pair of arms, used for most tasks, have five-fingered hands with sharp, insectile claws. The smaller pair of arms are reserved for fine manipulations and are not effective in combat.
D'ziriaks' otherwise dull brown carapaces are decorated with numerous runes glowing in bright colors. These tattoo-like runes indicate an individual's role in D'ziriak society, and set them apart from their home plane's other native inhabitants. The runes glow with natural bioluminescence, and D'ziriaks can make them flare brightly for an instant, at the expense of overstressing the biochemical glands that create and maintain the runes for an extended time. The color and shape of the runes are partially natural, but can be shaped and customized carefully over time to fit the individual's station.
The D'ziriak language is a mix of buzzes and chitters, and is spoken by few other creatures. D'ziriaks prefer to communicate with other species using telepathy rather than endure the sound of their language being "butchered by fleshy throats." D'ziriaks organize into hive cities led by a king and queen. These hive cities consist of impressive spires, yet these towers are only the foremost part of the settlement, with many more chambers reaching deep below for residences, workshops, and fungus farms. D'ziriak settlements are lit inside and out with alchemical and magical light sources, often in the shapes of runes. These dimly glowing towers provide travelers with landmarks, and perhaps promise safe havens, on the otherwise gloomy Shadow Plane.
The creature looks up, clicking and chirping.
She stands up menacingly placing herself between you and the artwork and tome.
"We mean you no harm," Daehalya says in Sylvan, hoping the d'ziriak might understand her even if she can't understand it. "We are travelers, come here in search of answers."
She casually holds her staff like a walking stick, doing her best to not appear as any sort of threat.
"Onye Dinta does not know this clicking language," he tells the others. "D'ziriak live on the shadow plane. Maybe speak the language of the shadow plane, but Onye Dinta does not know this either." He tries his original greeting and question in Aklo but also adds, "The tribe has no desire to take the art."
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Nicky tries a couple replies in Fey languages that he's picked up.
Does this language work for us to converse? Aklo
Does this language work for us to converse? Undercommon
Does this language work for us to converse? Sylvan
Does this language work for us to converse? Infernal
Does this language work for us to converse? Elven
At the least, he's trying to use hand movements to signal peace and parlay.
Even usng his hands to create the image of an open book and then using his fingers to first point to his eyes and then to mimic that he's reading an imaginary book in his hand.
◆ Using ability "no cause for Alarm".
[ooc] It says to use a diplo check, but I think I already did.
◆ ◆ I'd also like to use the ability - That's Odd. To notice something special about the room. It'll probably help with our attempted parlay.
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The D'ziriak seems to relax a small bit but remains on edge and is unable to understand you at all.
Nicholo looks around for anything dd that may catch his eye. This room contains all the research Kaneepo had to acquire and assimilate in order to create the obnubilate curse, including tomes on magical diseases, elven medical texts, codices on evil rituals and curses, and more.
Nicholo does spot three obviously valuable texts, each worth 7 gp: an ancient Osirian scroll on magical blights, a rare unburned copy of Curses Foul and Fell bound in eel hide, and a beautifully illuminated copy of The Physicker’s Guide to Elves.
Ezgara grimmaces at the D'ziriak — maybe he's trying to smile? — as he peers over their shoulder to see what they're reading.
Ezgara checks to see if the D'ziriak has paint on their fingers or anything like that. Are they the ones who crafted that art in the other room?
He stuffs any books on the curse or medicine that might prove useful.
But he ends up with a veterinary book on donkey anatomy. 205 bones? 205? Ezgara thought it was 206. Precious knowledge! All mine! Well maybe things will still work out next time he treats wounds on fellow party members.
Ezgara rambles at the artist, offering the D'ziriak inane critique in a language they cannot understand. He thoroughly enjoys it. Such is the eternal relationship of artist and audience.
He wanders off to the SE door.
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A stained wooden operating table with a gutter around the edge and a variety of leather restraints stands in the middle of this large theater. A rack of immaculate surgical tools stands along the western wall, while a counter to the east holds papers and pens. The floor has been carved in elaborate geometric designs, and an alcove to the northeast holds a bed.
A lone woman stands before the operating table wearing a white porcelain mask. She wears a long surgeon’s coat and supple leather gloves, and both her mask and clothing sport black stripes in a clear attempt to match Kaneepo’s own patterning. She looks at you curiously for a moment. "You do not seem to be any of the failed experiments...Ah I see who you are now." SHe draws a bloody looking dagger. "YOU....Kaneepo chooses you over me!?" She says angrily.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
➤ Nicholo
➤ Ezgara
Leiko
Onye
Odioki
Daehalya
Ezgara shakes his head; He weaves a tale about an elf putting an pretender out of their misery with her brtutal staff. Yes, how clever Daehalya is for putting the thirsty one out of her insipid misery! Terminal dehydration, the most painful way to die. It
He then tries to recall knowledge about the creature
Then he casts Guidance on Onye. Kill her. Yes, do that.
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Nicholo finds a weak point and fires a bolt into Leiko's ribs while Ezgara ponders the situation. Nicholo recognizes Leiko to be a Shae from the Plane of Shadow. Shae are wispy, tenebrous creatures native to the Plane of Shadow. Their amorphous bodies appear in constant states of flux. They cast no shadows of their own, instead gaining and losing umbral energy to nearby shadows that shrink and grow alongside them. Leiko is able to swiftly walk through the shadows appearing where she pleases within sight.
Leiko bides her time as she tosses a single dagger at Onye.
The dagger sticks in the door.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
➤ Nicholo
➤ Ezgara
Leiko
➤ Onye
➤ Odioki
➤ Daehalya
Odioki moves into the room, and tries to consider a weakness the creature may have.
He then fires his hand canon at it from across the table.
Onye Dinta glances at the dagger as it sinks into the door. "Nicholo says you are elemental," he says as he hefts his javelin at the vivisectionist, "Onye Dinta has regret, but Onye Dinta must destroy those who serve the Slim." He raises his kudu hide shield and slinks swiftly toward the shadow creature.
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Yeah, Kaneepoo chose me over you. I've got horns and stuff that make for killer awesome shadow that *TOTALLY* turn The Kaneepoo on.
Don't do all screaming Mimi on me. It's not my fault your Kaneepoo Crush has fetishes. Nicky puts his hand to his horns and showcases them with hand movements like Vana White does.
Saying drivel, like Ezgara would do, now complete - he doesn't know what to do that would be constructive.
Fire beams out of the eyes he thinks. That's a good plan. Works in plenty of situations.
◆
You know what lights up a room? Blasting Beams!
◆◆ Blasting Beams.
◆◆◆ Move.
The amurrun reaches out for the edge as the floor falls out from under him. "Mrow!"
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Nicholo devises a bit of a stratagem and blasts the shadowy woman with his fiery beams from his eyes. Nicholo isn't used to such power and ends up burning some of his face in the backlash.
With cat-like reflexes Onye twists around and quickly grabs the edge of the pit, avoiding falling in.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
Nicholo
➤ Ezgara
Leiko
Onye
Odioki
➤ Daehalya
Ezgara continues spinning a tale about Daehalya. He Seeks for traps. If he sees one he Points it Out, if not he moves into the front of the room.
HP 24/24
AC 19 (+1 vs. traps)
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +6 (+1 vs. traps)
Effects: tale spun (+1 status bonus to attack rolls and saving throws against the villain)
Daehlaya joins her companions in the fight, moving toward the shae with staff raised. But distracted by the pit and the risk that there could be more such traps, her thrusts are easily avoided.
Daehalya spins on her heel, not letting her momentary surprise distract her, and closes in on the shae again.
The catfolk hefts himself over the edge of the pit gracefully. He draws a javelin and moves closer to the battle.
Ezgara continbues his tale. Then he throws a ball of fire into his enemy's face.
HP 16/24
AC 19 (+1 vs. traps)
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +6 (+1 vs. traps), cold resistance 1
Effects: tale spun (+1 status bonus to attack rolls and saving throws against the villain)
Daehalya grimaces, though she's well used to the cold and its effects .
She tries again to trip the shae, her staff flying in a practiced set of moves.