Slick keeps an eye on the shifting enemy around him and picks his moment to charge the Colossus and slash at it.
Reactive Strike (↺)
Trigger A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.
Protector's Sacrifice (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet takes damage
Reduce the damage the ally would take by 21. You redirect this damage to yourself, but your immunities, weaknesses, resistances and so on do not apply.
Warding Tattoo (Fiend) (↺) (1/day)
Trigger An enemy, hazard, or the environment makes an attack against your AC, requires you to attempt a saving throw, or causes you to take damage automatically
Until the end of the current turn, against the triggering effect, you gain a +1 status bonus to AC and saving throws and gain resistance 2 to damage.
The Paladin (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You fail or critically fail a saving throw
Adjust the result of your saving throw up by one degree of success.
Talisman: Snapleaf (↺)
Trigger You begin to fall.
This small, crystalline carving takes the shape of a tree leaf and attaches to armor or clothing with a simple strap. When you activate the snapleaf, you gain the benefits of feather fall and a 2nd-level invisibility spell for 1 minute or until you stop falling, whichever comes first.
Skeptic's Defense (↺) (1/day)
Trigger You are targeted by or are in the area of a mental spell or effect.
You don't believe in any mental twaddle, and you're certainly not afraid of it. You scoff and verbally refute the triggering effect, attempting a counteract check using your Intimidation modifier with a counteract level of half your level rounded up. If you succeed, you ignore the triggering effect, though any other creatures that were also targeted or in the area are still affected. If the source of the effect you successfully counteracted understands your language and has an Intelligence modifier of –3 or higher, that creature becomes stupefied for 1 round.
Blessed Denial (↺)
Trigger An ally within 30 feet would become Frightened, Drained, Enfeebled, Sickened, or Stupefied.
You exude peace and protection, lessening a harmful condition as it falls upon an ally. Reduce the value of the condition your ally would take by 1 (to a minimum of 0). If the ally takes more than one condition at the same time, choose one to reduce.
Pine quickly flies back into the creatures bowels. He easily manages to liberate the card. As he does it seems to affect something vital inside the creature. Energy builds up in the core and then erupts outwards in a burst of pure, white, light. The remaining demons are swept away in the burst of power. The colossus then seems to deactivate, for now. Pine promptly stabs it in a sensitive bit.
Billy douses the Shadow Prince in holy water but he doesnt seem bothered by it at all.
Sigourney douses the Shadow Prince in acid and his form begins to lose cohesion. Slick takes advantage of the Colossus being rather impaired and lands two blows on it. Damaged beyond endurance it crashes to the ground.
The Shadow Prince, furious at Slicks destruction, tries to crush his mind. Slick sees visions of his impending death but they pass quickly. At that point, with the Colossus and the demonic Horde defeated the group quickly dispatches the Shadow Prince.
As the Prince is destroyed his body melts away into a mass of thick, black goo. It spatters the cobblestones below and, as you will discover later, nothing will wash away the stain. With the invasion stymied for now, you have a chance to reflect and collect yourselves. The Castle has suffered significant damage, many of your people have been slain and the town is burning. Several buildings have been destroyed and the air is thick with the smell of smoke, ashes, blood and death.
The massive body of the construct lies in the middle of the courtyard. Something seems to pulse within it...
You have overcome the invaders, but at a price.
, fail
spirit
Holy Cascade
, pass
Acid Burst
, fail
Having taken down the Colossus and given its remains a sharp kick to make sure it wasn't getting up again, he turns to see the Shadow Prince dripping onto the ground from the effects of Sigourney's acid rain. He comes over and proceeds to stomp the fiend's gooey remains into the dust to make sure it stays down. "This one's for Baines. <Stomp!> This one is for the dead guards. <Stomp!> And this is for all the other death and destruction you evil fiends have wrought on Harrowheart. <Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Crunch!>"
Sensing that there was still something pulsing in the remains of the Colossus, Slick marches back to the downed construct. He looks around for any remaining life within.
Pinebrush holds up the card he extracted. "We got a new card! That really wasn't so bad."
He lowers the card, which is large enough to block his view, and looks around at the castle and town. "Oh."
Seeing Slick checking to make sure Colossus is dead, Billy asks, "Need any magical assistance, my friend?" As he usually does after a grueling battle, Billy takes a breath when the fight dies down. Looking over to the sprite, he asks, "So what's the new card, Pine? Can I take a look?"
Holding the new Harrow Card, Billy has an idea and sings,
♫"Colossus's days were numbered -- it wasn't all that hard.
Now he's less encumbered. What truths lie with this card?"♫
Garion casts Object Reading to learn what happened to the card in the last week. He looks hopefully to the group, "Maybe its past will shed some light on what happened here."
Then realizing casualties are surrounding them, Billy runs up to each body (both seemingly and tries to give them some healing with Battle Medicine, Lay on Hands, or Soothe spell. The bard begins unpacking his Healers Tools.
Slick sets to stomping on the various enemies. As he is kicking around the shattered remnants of the Colossus he exposes a mass of pulsating red crystal at its core. Assuming someone intervenes before Slick smashes it to bits...
This appears to be some sort of seed, or heart of the colossus, used to warp and corrupt the radiant warden.
The energies of this seed retain a link to the Abyss. If you could find the source then these abyssal energies could be hampered. Basically this is a plot widget, dont throw it away, sell or or destroy it!
Pine examines the card, he immediately recognises it as the Survivor.
Billy attempts to Object read the card. His mind is promptly overwhelmed by feelings of immense, pain, outrage and fear. Behind those images is a sneering, wolf like face, and an insistent mocking laughter.
"Oh, that's a bad thing." Pine points at the seed, "That magically corrupted it."
Seeing Billy take out his medical tools, Pine does the same. "Right!"
Sigourney is in a daze. The damage the demons caused...it will take a long time to fix this damage. She's also exhausted more magic than she has in a long time. She stares blankly at the scene until Slick exposes the red crystal in the Colossus. She moves to the Colossus and, seeing that it is magic, takes 6 seconds to identify the magic within...While Guidancing herself first.
"This was used to corrupt the warden. Interesting...Well it's magic, I could use maybe use it eventually, Nethys says to use magic...Nethys would want me to keep it."
Sigourney shoves the heart up her sleeve.
After studying The Survivor harrow card, Billy shudders, "I saw a sneering wolf. And pain, outrage, and fear." He considers, "Probably the Prince of Wolves that these demons kept going on about."
After helping Pinebrush tend to the wounded, Billy asks Sigourney if he can take a closer look at the red crystal ...
Billy shrugs and confirms what Pinebrush and Sigourney have already determined. "What they said."
Turning his attention back to the death and destruction, he calls everyone over to help with Baines. "Poor Baines. He deserves a proper burial. Let's find a safe place for now." Billy doesn't actually help move the body, which looks really heavy. Instead, he directs traffic. "Excuse us. Move aside. Thank you. Coming through..."
With Baines settled nearby, Billy says, "Let the renovations begin."
When Slick's stomping uncovers the pulsating red crystal, he gathers around it with the rest for a closer examination.
He doesn't know what it is, but is happy to accept Pine, Sigourney, and Billy's identification of the object. "Yep, that's a nasty looking thing. We better hold onto this and keep it safe until we can figure out how to destroy it. Make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, Sigourney."
Slick will help carry Baines's body back to Harrowheart to lay in state until they can figure out the details of a proper funeral. Upon returning to town, he will repeatedly call on Gorum to channel healing energy to the wounded.
The group gathers themselves together and starts trying to undo some of the damage inflicted by the invasion. In doing so it is clear that the damage is extensive and likely to take weeks, if not months, to repair.
Returning to the castle with the body of Baines you find several other staff members have been slain. The grooms have been half devoured by demonic wolves, several paladins have been killed although their Captain has survived, if rather badly injured and your cook died valiantly protecting the kitchen staff with a metal skilled that just happened to be made of cold iron.
Taking to your beds, tired, grimy, covered in soot and blood and worse, things look rather bleak. Also, with Baines gone, there is no-one to sort out cleaning your clothes and armour.
The following morning dawns bright. Birds are singing and the smell of death, fire and smoke seems missing from the air. Looking out of your windows down to the town you are all surprised to see the damage seems to have bee undone! Heading down to breakfast you smell sizzling bacon, coffee brewing and eggs cooking. Entering the dining chamber you find All-Seeing Hajek waiting for you. As you take in this Baines enters directing several servants to lay the table.
Good morning my Lords, I trust you slept well. I am afraid that the condition of your clothing is most unfortunate. It is possible that several pieces are simply not salvageable. I trust you will be more careful in future.
After what turned out to be a very long and hard day, Slick finally staggers back to his room in Harrowheart. He removes his armor and slumps wearily onto his bed. The maids had not had a chance to make up his room before the demonic attack began, so it was as he had left it; a little disheveled, reflecting his own state of being, both physical and mental.
He makes a cursory attempt to wipe some of the dried demon entrails from his armor but with little success. He gives up after a few minutes. Slick was going to miss Baines and his cleaning skills. He strips all his clothes off, and too tired to run his own bath, gets into bed and quickly falls into a deep sleep. He'd deal with everything in the morning.
After a long night he finally wakes up to a bright morning with birds chirping outside the windows. He raises himself and sits on the edge of the bed to clear his thoughts. He immediately notices that his dirty armor and clothing from the night before had disappeared. "What the..." But then the smell of breakfast hits him. "Mmmm. Hold on! I know those smells. Only Emile could make eggs and bacon that smell like that." He takes another deep breath. The scent of the bitter coffee was such that his tongue was already curling in anticipation. "Yep. That's Emile's coffee as well."
Slick jumps out of bed, and quickly slapping on some boxers, takes off at a run for the dining room. As he flies down the hallways, he hears the usual greetings of the staff going about their duties. He could see no evidence of destruction anywhere; the piles of corpses, both demonic and liveried were all gone; the shattered doors, burned tapestries and smashed furniture returned to their normal pristine state. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Reaching the dining room, he screeches to a halt. All evidence of the terrible battle that had taken place in Harrowheart had vanished. When Baines arrives, Slick's happiness takes another leap. He strides over to the long-suffering butler and wraps his arms around the man. "Baines my good fellow! It's so good to see you hale and hearty again. You definitely had me worried there for a while. I'd already resigned myself to having to clean my own armor today." Releasing the Harrowheart seneschal, he grabs a plate, and starts devouring all the eggs and bacon within reach.
Once the celebrations for the restoration of the Harrow Court are over, Slick returns to his usual routine and goes back to his job as a bouncer at The Gutless Griffin. During his time off, he works hard on his training at Harrowheart.
The crit success result for 10 days is 10 * 15gp = 150gp
The crit success result for 10 days is 10 * 15gp = 150gp
The failure result for 10 days is 10 * 0.9gp = 9gp
At the end of the month, Slick collects his wages from the proprietor, Fronsac Shimm. He bounces the pouch of gold in his hand to feel the weight. "A little extra pocket money never hurts."
Billy is still in his semi-formal black-and-white flannel sleepwear, smartly decorated with piano keys, as he makes his way to breakfast. "Baines! We thought we lost you." After Slick releases the butler, Billy runs up and takes a turn. He explains, "There was a demon-invasion of the city. Lots of destruction and death." Billy steps back, "Very comforting to see you made it through."
Over the next month, Billy spends his free time performing at The Gutless Griffin.
Total Earned Income (30 days): 960gp
Partway through the month, Billy finds he has groupies in Harrowheart. On his way to The Carnival one day, two fans, banging coconuts together to keep time, boldly approach him. They're wearing t-shirts with Billy's angelic face below the words Billy's Buddies.
The lad says, "Wow! It's you, Billy Bardy!!! I'm Wilbur. She's Mildred."
The gal continues, "We're Willie and Millie -- Billy's Buddies."
The lad finishes, "You're the best! We're the leaders of your fan club here in Harrowheart. Fastest growing club in the realm!"
Billy is quite used to the admiration of fans, but didn't know he was so popular at Harrowheart. He smiles and says sincerely, "How nice to meet you. It's a real pleasure. If you like, I can arrange to have some autographed photos made available." He shakes their hands.
Near the end of the month, Billy calls each of his companions into the parlor for their individual Harrowing rituals.
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Sigourney, exhausted after having spent most of her high level magic, Prestidigitatated herself and Reginald and then collapsed into bed.
After a dreamless night, she awoke to find Reginald frantically pointing to a letter on her desk. The letter smelt like fresh pinecones during an early winter and felt cold to the touch. She opened the letter, scanning its contents. A grimace overtakes her face as she realizes that her Patron, for the first time in a long time, has given her a fresh set of instructions. These instructions, however, would require much preparation and time spent learning an entirely new field – Potionology.
With a puff of smoke, Sigourney transformed Reginald into his human form. The letter was unceremoniously dumped into his hands and he was pushed out of the room.
28 days later…
The door to Sigourney’s room unlocked itself with a loud, audible click. A bleary Sigourney stumbled out of her room, one hand holding onto Reginald for support. Dark circles formed rings under her eyes. Two changes immediately stuck out to anyone that watched her drag herself around Harrowheart. Firstly, her robes are covered in slippery greenish slime that drips all over the castle. Secondly and most strikingly, a long, flexible green tentacle extrudes through the back of her robes, also spreading the greenish slime everywhere.
She makes a beeline for Slick. In a tired, hoarse voice, she asks Slick: “Hey…Can you lend me 400 Gold? I got to buy myself a better Resilient Rune for my robes. Here, you can have this in exchange.”
After buying the Rune, Sigourney stumbles back into Billy’s parlor to have her fortune taken. In her delirious state, she keeps choosing the suit of Hammers despite it not benefiting her. As she looks upon the only +4 fortune, she chooses to keep it at the Suit of Hammers.
“Hmmm…This would work well with a neat spell I could use…” She thinks to herself.
Sigourney spends the last day of her downtime engraving the Greater Resilient rune on her robes. She also profusely apologises to Baines and the staff for dripping green slime on the floor and promises to apply/ingest any slimy potions or oils outside the castle.
Crit Success: Keys (Reflex) @ +4
Crit Success: Stars (Will) @ +4
Success: Shields (Fort) @ +0
Crit Success: Hammers (Strikes) @ +4
Success: Crowns (Other) @ +0
When Sigourney comes to Slick asking for a loan, the half-elf reaches under his bed and pulls out a strongbox. As he opens it, he says, "No problemo, Sigourney. I've been saving up some cash to upgrade my sword, but as long as I get the money back before then, you're welcome to it." He counts out the gold and hands it to her. When Sigourney hands over a potion in lieu of interest, Slick looks at it a little bemused. "Um, thanks Sigourney." Before he thinks to ask what the potion does, Sigourney has run off to buy her rune. He looks at the mottled liquid in the vial and frowns.
He shrugs. "Okaaay then. I'll ask her about it later." He tucks the potion into a pocket and promptly forgets about it.
After going into a huddle with the others about how the Harrow cards they've collected so far should be distributed, Slick suggests that they should first epitomize all the new cards. "Some of those cards we epitomized earlier were instrumental in our success over the demon invasion. We should be fully prepared if another attempt is made on the Harrow Court."
Once the new cards have been epitomized, Slick hands over The Trumpet to Billy and collects The Uprising from Sigourney.
After Billy carries out his usual Harrow ritual, Slick is quite satisfied with the results.
Keys (⚿): - Success
Hammers (⚒): - Crit Success
Hammers (⚒): - Success
Hammers (⚒): - Crit Success
Hammers (⚒): - Success
Keys (⚿): - Success
A week after Pinebrush went into the swamps to pursue some will-o'-wisps, Slick decides to try his luck...
...he manages to come close enough to a wisp to hear its delighted giggles at being chased but fails to catch up to it.
Pine gets up the next morning, planning to seek out Rufus and see if he survived and then to recollect the hidden card and return it to the party's collection.
In the dining room, he finds something much more unexpected--Slick without his armor. "Oh. Hi Baines. Sorry about burying you."
Pinebrush agrees to help Slick epitomizing the remaining cards. He also spends that night trying again to seek out the Rabbit Prince, and this time he finds him! He was real after all.
The next night he tries to catch the will-o-wisps and finds it a surprisingly easy task. They're clearly no match for him!
Returning to town as things calm down some in Harrowheart, Pine has his weapon modified. After encountering so many demons, he's starting to become concerned about spirits. He wasn't at all prepared for them, but now he is... a little.
Splitting his time between Harrowheart and Absalom, Pine continues performing at the Gutless Griffin.
They pay him less than Billy, but some people throw food at him to make up for it so that's nice.
The group make their various preparations. Baines seems terribly confused about talk of him having died and people being relieved to see him again. He flatly disbelieves any talk of a demonic invasion, muttering something about the fumes from Sigourney's potion experiments. When he sees the trails of slime left throughout the castle he sighs and goes to find a mop.
It quickly becomes apparent that none of the staff or the residents of Harrowheart have any memory at all of the invasion. Even those who survived it recall nothing of the events and simply shrug away any suggestion that such terrible things occurred.
It is all rather disconcerting until, one morning several weeks later, your breakfasts are interrupted by a scream and a crash. One of the new servants, a young girl by the name of Molly rushes into the breakfast chamber and crashes into Baines, spilling a tray of cooked sausages and eggs all over the floor. The young woman is sobbing and babbling about horrible blue giants. Baines takes her off to the kitchen to calm her down, giving you all a meaningful look as he goes.
Heading along the trail of her flight you quickly come, once again, to the Great Hall. One of the portals is active and glowing. Beyond the portal lies a golden palace, in the background the ocean glimmers bright blue. Birds whirl in the sky and most of you easily recognise the city as Katapesh.
Standing on a balcony is an unusual figure, tall, heavily built with bright blue skin and four arms, wearing a strange conical hat which covers their face along with long blue and gold robes. They can clearly see you and are gesturing for you to come through the portal. The figure appears friendly enough to all of you (I dont think anyone can fail a DC20 Perception check except on a 1).
The figure is clearly a Wytchwyrd, mysterious and alien merchants capable of travelling the stars as well as the Planes.
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28 days ago, the day after the siege...
The party (and Baines) sees a young, bespectacled Chelaxian man wearing a white trenchcoat and sporting a white newsboy cap exiting from the general direction of the dormitory.
“Oh Baines! It’s so good to see you alive and unharmed! Mistress Sigourney will be so happy to hear about this – in about 28 days, anyways. Uhm, I’m Reginald. Yes, I look different. Anyways, Mistress Sigourney has received important instructions from our Employer.”
He holds out the letter for the party and castle to read.
Dear Sig,
Congratulations on achieving mastery of my magic! I knew you had it in you to excel as well as you are. I saw what you did with that horrible Hellknight and that fiendish Fiend – excellent work on your part. So proud of you – keep up the good work!
With the sheer amount of my magic you are invoking, I can start to manifest through Reginald into your vicinity! Isn’t that exciting! Since you hardly ever visit my lair these days, maybe I’ll come and visit you.
As an apology for shocking you with this surprise intrusion into your domain, here’s a little something from my lair. I’ve collected a bunch of books over the years on potion and oil making. I’ve gotten much use of them in my current position, but I’ve already memorized them cover to cover over the years. I hope you get some use out of them – I expect you to have learnt them by the time I come visit. I can’t wait to try your homemade Tentacle Potion – they are a real hoot at parties!
Oh, and one more thing? Please let up on your obsession with Fiends, dearie. I know I told you to go hunt them down, but that doesn’t mean you should become Legendarily obsessed with them. I say you use that time and energy to better your mastery of magic.
Stay safe and make sure to wrap yourself up nice and warm! My magic can be really cold and I’d hate to find out from Reginald that you have caught a cold from overuse of Cold magic.
Cheers,
You-know-who
P.S: To the party taking care of Sig and Reginald. Thanks for all of your help! Sigourney and Reginald have spoke really well of you to me. Keep up the good work and keep collecting cards!
P.P.S: Sig, you can show the party this letter. They already know I exist.
Reginald continues. “The mistress is not to be disturbed or else she’ll turn you into a newt – permanently. I’ll handle any messages and business that Mistress Sigourney would need to take care of.” Reginald message is punctuated by frequent loud and audible growling from his stomach. “So uhh…Could I have breakfast? All that fighting yesterday made me really hungry.”
Sigourney takes the opportunity to launch into a mini-lecture.
"This is a Wytchwyrd, like Witchward but replacing the 'i' and the 'a' with a 'y'. These are mysterious alien merchants capable of travelling stars as well as the Planes of Existence."
"Shall we ready ourselves for the next great adventure?" Sigourney asks the group, gesturing towards the portal with her green, ghostly tentacle.
As he does each week, Billy gets up early and visits with his fans on the way to The Carnival.
As he does each morning, Billy chooses his Harrow omen, and activates The Carnival card.
Use The Carnival card to learn about whom we might meet the day.
Billy then joins the others, ready to meet the Wytchwyrd that Sigourney told us about.
"Everybody knows that! I thought it was pronounced like 'weird' though."
Slick looks on in horror as his second breakfast ends up on the floor. "Noooooo!" But when Molly starts spluttering about seeing blue giants in Harrowheart, he leaps to his feet. Without wasting time fetching his armor or any weaponry, Slick quickly traces her steps back to the Great Hall. Not immediately seeing any blue giants, he looks around and spots the active portal. A closer look through the portal shows him Katapesh and it's blue-skinned denizen beckoning to him. Slick pauses a moment in thought, then waves back.
As the rest of the group catches up, he calls them over to the open portal. "Looks like Katapesh, but I don't know who this guy is. Seems like a friendly fellow... who or whatever they are." He nods knowingly as Sigourney tells everyone what type of creature they're dealing with, but this is the first time he's every heard of, or set eyes on, a wytchwyrd.
"Looks like our R&R has come to an end my friends. We better get suited up and prepare ourselves for what looks like warm weather." He goes off to suit up and collect his equipment before returning to the portal and waiting for the others to regather.
Once everyone has gathered, he says, "Okey dokey, let's see what the wytchwyrd wants of us." And then steps through the portal.
As a group you step through the glowing portal. You arrive on the high balcony overlooking the bay. Despite being fairly early the sun is up and the place is baking hot. The strange wytchwyrd creature bows to you all.
Greetings, mighty ones. We are Usilket, a delegate of the Pactmasters of Katapesh. We seek a mutually beneficial compact with you, for it would appear that our futures are entwined. We have an enemy in common in the Prince of Wolves, and our fates have each been manipulated by the appearance of magical harrow cards. You have turned aside the Prince for now, and you have taken these cards to build a world. We know now that these cards are of your destiny, that we have only held them for you, and so I offer this as a show of good faith. Please take this card. All I ask is that we speak honestly together. If you agree, I shall take you to meet my leaders. I am also happy to answer any questions which you might have.
With that they produce the Owl card and hand it to you (details on Roll20).
"Finally!"
Doesn't Slick know that delay took several minutes??? "Let's go let's go let's go!"
Pine eagerly... steps quietly through the portal and tries to let the bigger folk obscure his movement.
Slick takes the card from Usilket. "Thanks for the card, Usilket. It's a bit of a change of pace for us not having to slaughter an army of fiends sent by the Prince of Wolves to get our hands on one." He eyes the wytchwyrd to see if he can trust the creature.
"Sure, I can't see how it could hurt to have a little chat." Holding up The Owl, Slick says, "Let me guess. This card magically showed up in one of your pockets one day and you have no idea how it got there; am I right?"
After Usilket responds, Slick continues. "So what can you tell us about this Prince of Wolves fellow? Given the friends he keeps, I presume he's a fiend of some sort. All we really know is that he's very interested in getting his claws on these cards and taking over the Harrow Court. It seems that we've been recruited to stop him, and as the enemy of your enemy is your friend, I hope we'll be able to work together to bring him down."
As Slick takes the card Usilket smiles, bows and sweeps his arms to the side. Truly you must be a seer yourself Master Slick. Indeed, this Owl card did appear amongst my belongings several months ago. Two others also appeared at the same time and are currently held by my Lords, the Pactmasters. I was set to research these cards and perhaps learn how and why they had come to us. I discovered that they are part of a powerful new deck, the Deck of Destiny. We have but three cards, we understand that you have many more. That was how we were able to discover the existence of Harrowheart, such a concentration of magical power. And yet, we are unable to enter it. We fear that my research may have been what attracted the attention of the Prince of Wolves. He attacked one of our outposts and may have learned of Harrowheart from the information held there.
They bow their head at that admission, appearing genuinely contrite.
The Prince is certainly also our enemy. We have no doubt he will try and secure our cards again. It is my hope that you could secure an alliance with my Masters and they may gift you there cards...
Billy is sitting in his room in Harrowheart consulting the Carnival. His mind wanders through the strange images of the Carnival, drawn once again to the Big Top. Outside an enormous man in a ridiculous, oversized, conical hat is selling tickets and booming about the various entertainments. Billy senses he can trust the man.
Stepping through the portal you realise the man you saw represented Usilket.
As Slick ponders Usilket's words, he waves off their remorse. "Don't worry about inadvertently giving the Prince of Wolves access to the Harrow Court. Doubtless he would have eventually figured it out one way or another. If his friends show up at the Court again, we'll deal with them as we did before."
He turns to look out at the view of Katapesh from the balcony. "A beautiful city you have here; I wouldn't mind staying a short while to experience its delights." He turns back to Usilket. "I don't see a problem with meeting your Masters to discuss what an alliance between us might look like. In fact, we..." he turns to include the rest of the group, "... would very much appreciate any information you and your Masters would share with us about both the Deck of Destiny and the Prince of Wolves. I expect that once we've laid waste to his allies and minions, we'll eventually have to deal with the fellow in person. The more we know about him, the quicker we'll be able to remove him as a threat, both to us at the Harrow Court and to you and your Masters here."
"Sounds like they might know more than we do..." Pinebrush says quietly.
Out loud he says, "Can you tell us more about that attack? When he attacked us, there were a lot of demons."
Before entering the portal, Billy casts Musical Accompaniment.
After stepping through, he immediately recognizes the wytchwyrd (and the strange conical hat) from his carnival vision. He excitedly reassures the group, "They were at the carnival! I feel like we can trust them." When Usilket offers up the harrow card, Billy smiles proudly to the group and asks rhetorically, "See?"
Turning to the wytchwyrd, Billy doffs his own fedora in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Usilket. I'm Billy. I really like your hat. Where did you find it?" He thinks for a moment and asks, "Could you really see us through the portal? It looked like you were calling to us."
Retrieving his jug, the halfling pours drinks, "Care to join me in some of the finest honey mead in Absalom?" After taking a sip, Billy agrees, "Yes, we'd love to meet your friends and share information. The Prince must be stopped."
At Slicks words Usilket grins broadly and claps their hands together. Excellent, I am so glad. Of course, I will tell you all that I know. The Prince of Wolves attacked one of our secure research facilities here in the city. He did indeed employ a large number of demons, quite a frighteningly large number in fact. We were able to identify that he carried three cards but not which ones they were. We did capture a number of his minions. Sadly there were not very co-operative, even under magical interrogation. They did claim that he "lives beyond death", that he is obsessed with the Deck and that he intends to use it to "ascend beyond the mortal world".
With that they gesture for you to follow them, happily accepting a drink from Billy. My hat you say, why, I purchased it from Mahmood's Emporium of Harmonious Headgear, you can find it on the Silk Way in the city. I can provide you with directions if you would like. I could indeed see you through the Gate, I have been researching the cards now for a while and have become quite familiar with them.
They lead you out of their chambers and into the Palace proper. You pass through long, marble halls filled with beautiful fresco's, through water gardens bright with flowers from across the world and worlds beyond and into the Palace proper, gilded in gold and silver with precious gems set into elaborate furniture and statues. Everywhere the place bustles, serious looking functionaries carrying important documents, stern faced guards, brightly dressed but clearly very capable, genies of all kinds and everywhere scantily clad servants.
Truly Katapesh is a jewel of Golarion, nowhere else quite compares says Usilket, clearly very proud of their home. I hope we can come to an alliance, the Prince will attack again, I am sure of it, and as yet we do not know where he is based. If we could discover that then a counterattack might be possible.
As they talk you reach a large meeting hall. More guards, these stylishly bedecked in jeweled turbans, silvery breastplates, and fine, colorful robes greet you. These are Zephyr Guards, the elite protectors of the city says Usilket as they usher you into the meeting room, which consists of an airy open hall with lavish furniture and all manner of refreshments, as well as a small pool. Two guardian constructs, pale platinum in colour, watch over the double-door exit.
As you settle down to wait for the Pactmasters, Usilket asks, Tell me, have you heard of the ancient ruins of Kho? They are a topic of some of my research and I am always interested in meeting those who might know more of them?
They are quite an amazing place. An ancient flying city of the Shory Empire which crashed into the Barrier Mountains aeons ago. They contain many unusual locations, the Domes of the Polymatum, the Fields of Glass, the jungle filled Lower City and the flooded Upper City. There is also of course the fabled Well of Axuma. I dont suppose you know of them?
Sigourney scratches her head. "I have heard of some of the places you mention, yes."
She Messages the rest of the party. "Back me up here."
Sigourney ponders and recalls the following:
DOMES OF THE POLYMATUM
The Domes were Kho’s arcane schools; the most prolific inhabitants of the area today are sinister ratfolk known as hadis.
FIELDS OF GLASS
The remains of crystal structures are scattered across the Fields of Glass. A group of crystalline xorns inhabits this region, under the rule of the dragon Vehanezhad.
LOWER CITY
The Lower City’s ruins are the most overgrown with jungle flora today. Near the region’s center opens the Pit of Endless Night—a vast sinkhole. The Pit of Endless Night is inhabited by a group of morlocks.
UPPER CITY/SUNKEN CITY
Towers still stand over a lake that recently flooded the Upper City, so folk in Usilket’s enclave have taken to calling this area the Sunken City. Winged apes called derhiis live in the ruined towers and served a clan of marid genies, The Ghasem clan, who dwelled in the lake. They have recently disappeared.
WELL OF AXUMA
A self-sustaining reservoir of magical energy called the Well of Axuma flows through and around Kho. In Kho’s valley, creatures feel comfortable no matter the temperature, they grow and heal faster, and sapient creatures can develop minor magical talents. Gravity has less hold on things here, and wands and staves function better. Those who are exposed to the well’s energies may discover a way to take that magic into themselves to enhance their bodies or minds.
Sigourney recognises that Usilket is in fact a Monk. They are clearly highly trained and operate on behalf of the Katapesh government as a diplomat,spy, trader and warrior. Katapesh is clearly their home.
Sigourney relays this information to the party and to Usilket, hoping to impress them. She also ponders how many punches a four-armed monk can output per round.
After refilling any mugs, Billy follows Usilket on the tour of the Palace. "This is a lovely place. So wonderfully vibrant." After a short pause, "How's the entertainment?"
When Sigourney asks for confirmation, Billy takes a sip of honey mead and ponders.
Billy agrees with Sigourney, maybe filling in a few gaps. He smiles and says, "That's what I do. I drink and I know things." He strums his instrument adding, "And I also play the lute."
Turning serious, he points out, "Except for the Well of Axuma, the rest of Kho seems to attract an unsavory sort."
"Yeah, of course we do."
Usilkey smiles widely, Entertainment, why yes, of course, we have the finest entertainers in all of the Inner Sea. Their eyes go a little misty, and the dancers...why, you have to see them to believe them.
Billy and Pine are able to fill in a few more details. Billy recalls that the old arcane schools are also home to a lich called Trexima Butoi. He doesnt recall where he is but he knows he is active in the area.
Pine recalls reading that the magic suffusing the Fields of Glass has caused a sort of infection to spread from the crystals. Vehanezhad, who was once a blue dragon, has transformed into a crystal dragon as a result of this.
As you are chatting the doors to the chamber swing open and five more wytchwyrds enter. Each takes up a position around the room. Usilkey introduces them as Angruul, Jivnar, Morvithis, Tzandarkon, and Krimiltuk (whom Usilket introduces as “our father”).
These are clearly the ruling Pactmasters of the city. Each is an archmage in their own right, they are the post powerful wytchwyrds in the city, possibly on Golarion. The fact that they are here and that five of them are here speaks to how seriously they consider this situation.
The Pactmasters say nothing but you get the sense that some sort of communication is occurring between them and Usilket.
He turns to you all and bows. My Masters welcome you to their city and trust that your stay so far has been comfortable. You understand that this Prince of Wolves is an enemy to both of us. He appears obsessed with this Deck and will surely attack both of us to obtain them. He is also likely to seek out cards elsewhere, becoming yet more powerful in the process. We propose an alliance between us to stop him.
Usilket pauses briefly, We have become aware that more cards has recently appeared in the ruins of the ancient city of Kho. We ask that you act as our agents there, recover the cards and deal with the residents as you see fit. There may be further allies there we can recruit to aid against the Prince. In return we offer the other two cards we have obtained. The first, the Dessert, we freely give you now. the second, the Marriage, we offer as a sign of good faith once we have concluded our agreement.
Krimiltuk produces a card from his sleeve which Usilket takes and hands to you.
Sigourney is deep in thought before speaking. She doesn't take the card yet. Idly, she tries to peek at the card to try and see what kind of dessert is drawn on the card.
"Hmm...You ask us to risk our lives to fight, be your diplomats and remove a common enemy in return for cards. Is there any other way you can back us up in our endeavours? You are merchants, are you not? Do you..." Sigourney pauses, desire evident in her eyes, "Do you sell any rare or uncommon magic spells or items? I've heard that the Djins of Wood and Metal and the Zoetrope have found much new magic...but I'm sure you are already aware of these."
Billy is excited as Usilket tells about the entertainers. "Oh, I'd love to see a performance. The dancers sound fabulous."
Billy is very interested in seeing Kho in person. And helping to rid the evil from the land. Bowing to the Pactmasters, he offers more drinks. Upon receiving the harrow card, he nods, "A very generous offer. How would we get to Kho? Is there a portal?"
Turning to Sigourney, "Yes, they're asking us to risk our lives. But, knowing what we know, would we not do it anyway?"
As Usilket guides them through the palace, Slick looks on in wonder at all the gilded ornamentation. The beauty of the water gardens was particularly splendid. "Wow! This place makes Harrowheart look like a bit of a dump by comparison." Realizing that he'd said it out loud, he turns sheepishly to the rest of the group. "Don't tell Baines I said that; I'd never hear the end of it."
When Usilket inquires about their knowledge of the ancient ruins of Kho, Slick frowns. This wasn't really his bailiwick, but he'd done a little studying of the arcane as part of his minimal magical training. He's thankful to Sigourney and the others that he doesn't have to rack his brains too hard to find a memory of said ruins. "These ruins of Kho sounds like an interesting place. Maybe we'll get to visit them one day."
When the pactmasters enter and Usilket introduces them, Slick makes an effort to try and remember their names but quickly gives up. "These Katapeshi names are always a mouthful. I hope there isn't a snap quiz on them after this meeting or I'm going to be in trouble." He lets the more diplomatic members of the group handle the negotiations. When mention is made of going to the ruins to collect Harrow cards, Slick gets a little excited. "Looks like we'll get to see some of the more exotic sights of Katapesh after all."
When Usilket hands over the Harrow card that he took from Krimiltuk, he's a little disappointed to see a sphynx on it. He'd been hoping for something more like a slice of cake or maybe a fruit tartlet. All of a sudden he feels a little peckish. "That's what happens when I skip my second breakfast. Curse Molly's clumsiness."
The wychwyrds are offering to help them do what they were trying to do anyway, and rewarding them for it. The deal seems very one-sided. Pinebrush is about to ask "What's in it for you?" when Sigourney surprises him by asking the exact opposite question.
He looks at the card and giggles. "Thank you for speaking a language we know, but I think that's pronounced 'desert.' Dessert is a different thing. A better thing, though deserts are very nice too."
Aah, Uskilet smiles, Yes, of course, your Taldane language is sometimes very confusing.
Sigourney and Billy have both read or heard about the dangerous monsters known as Liche's. They know that such creatures cannot be destroyed unless you first find and destroy their Soul Cage. Such items hide a portion of the soul. If the body is destroyed they will reform at their Soul Cage.
Such creatures tend to be rather fragile (Fort is the lowest save) and they are often surrounded by a powerful fear aura.
As for crystal dragons. They are rather large and clumsy (weakest save is reflex) while they possess a powerful breath weapon composed of lethal shards of crystal which deals piercing damage.
Usilket bows to Sigourney. Katapesh holds many wonders. I am sure we could arrange an introduction if there is something unusual you are looking for.
Usilket continues, Kho lies several hundred miles to the north of us, in the jungle covered slopes of the mountain. We believe that the portals of Harrowheart might take you there. I personally would love to see your home. We can also provide a device which enhances the use of teleportation magic (details on roll20). We can also offer one of the following, a bag of holding type IV, a keen weapon rune, a greater sturdy shield, or a wand of any common 6th-level spell. In addition, please each of you take these. At that point servants hand each of you a silk pouch containing three greater elixirs of life and a panacea.
Sigourney takes a deep breath, casts Guidance on herself, and Requests that the Pactmasters help her source rare or uncommon magic items (up to the Party's level), which she will pay full price for. She namedrops Aeon stones, potions such as Saizirul Blue and Oils such as Keen Oils or Fundamental Oils.
"Esteemed pactmasters, excuse my manners. I shall introduce myself. I am Sigourney Knowledge, Witch of potions and powdered snow. Can you see this Tentacle growing out of my back and the Slime covering my robes?" She uses her ghostly Tentacle to point out the green Slime covering her robes.
"All of these effects were caused by my potent potions and magic. I can do these every day for myself or my party without fail." She boasts.
"Your gift of Panacea is already very helpful. As soon as I have the time, I will be able to reverse engineer the recipe and prepare it...for my own personal use, not for profit." She quickly adds, not wanting to step on their toes.
"If you could help me source uncommon or rare magic items, especially potions and oils, I would be able to replicate those effects for our alliance daily. Your investment into finding for me just one of these items could yield the same item ten times over. All I need is for you to sell me these items or point me in the direction of someone who does." She proposes.
The Pactmasters mutter something about talking to Usilket about such things.
Slick takes the gifts from Usilket. "Thanks, Usilket. I really hope we don't end up having to use any of these, but better safe than sorry, eh?"
"Thank you so much for those things!" says Pine, standing on his chair to be a little taller, "Healing alchemy will be very helpful, because this is very dangerous. We're confident in our abilities, but... it's still very dangerous."
The sprite tilts his head thoughtfully. "For a moment it kind of seemed like you were rewarding us or hiring us to do something for you, and since it was something we would have wanted to do anyway getting a reward on top seemed really generous! But I suppose that's not really accurate. We're working together. We're the ones going into danger, but it's in your interest too so you're providing us with all the material support you can. Because if we get into trouble then you're in danger too. So you want to help us. I understand now. Thank you for doing everything you can!"
They.. are doing everything they can. Right?
(But Pinebrush doesn't say that part outright. Why, he's probably not even thinking it! He's too cute and tiny and innocent.)
Billy nods as Usilket gives the group more information about Kho. He then echoes the group's sentiments, "Thank you for the gifts. They'll make a difference." The halfling approves as Slick accepts the Keen rune on behalf of the group.
Stepping forward to speak to the Pactmasters, Billy asks, "With your wisdom and experience, I was curious if you're familiar with a hard-to-find chain shirt, known as a Harmonic Hauberk." The halfling waits respectfully for their response.
Slick is pleased to accept the Keen rune from Usilket. "Thank you for this. Any chance I could impose on one of your craftspeople put it on my sword before we head to the Ruins of Kho?"
After Usilket's response, Slick continues. "Speaking of the Ruins of Kho. I'm assuming that while we're clearing them out, we'll probably come across all sorts of valuable relics and magical items. Perhaps you and your lords, the pactmasters, would like to be first in line to acquire what we find? We would be happy to make that happen for, say... a modest increase over the standard price we might sell our finds for. Would that be acceptable?"