"Woof!" The mastiff acknowledges the command and begins to sniff out a trail.
He begins strongly but soon gets distracted by an illusionary squirrel and loses focus.
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Mimi stands perfectly still as the garden disappears into the distance and the maze walls appear around her. "Vell, dat ees not sometheeng you see everee day. Clearlee ve are dealeeng vith some sort of powerful illusion 'ere." She then squints and concentrates mightily in an effort to disbelieve what her senses are telling her...
...with some degree of success. Forcing her mind to momentarily ignore the walls, she sees reality for what it is. "Non, non, non, Duhnee. Close your eyes and make two steps to de right, den three forvard. Much better."
Rufus guides Zaza on their way out of the illusory maze. At first they find a way going to the direction of the statue, but suddenly gets lost when another imaginary wall raises in front of them. But thanks to Kidron, they hack their way out and pushes through the walls. Dennis, a little frightened though he tries not to show it, manages to get pass through some walls but eventually blocked by a very thick wall that block him and the statue. Mimi concentrates and manages to glimpse the real place, she even able to disbelief the walls that are blocking the others' movements. Zhamie follow's Mimi's instruction and finds her self almost close to the statue. Reading the magic surrounding them, she understands that it only takes a touch to stop the illusion that is going one. Zyek on the other hand, is having a hard time to make her way out and begins to be overwhelmed with walls and all.
Zaza - 1
Kidron - 2
Dennis - 1
Mimi - 3
Zhamie - 3
Zyek - 0
Before the ysoki gets claustrophobic, Zhamie finally reaches the already-half-descended statue, and with just a touch, she dispels the illusory maze and ceases the statue’s very real descent into the ground, returning it to its original height.
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"Well we finally got here. Let's see what this mysterious message says." Zaza determines that the magical letters can easily be deciphered into a command word that causes the placard to slide down.
"Aha! What have we here?" She reaches into a hidden compartment and triumphantly pulls out another research fragment.
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Dennis, having moderate success hacking through the hedges, is still trying to force through when the maze disappears. Thinking he succeeded on his own, he triumphantly says, "I did it. That was exciting, but gosh ... I need a drink. Anyone have some root beer?" He looks around hopefully.
When Zaza finds the research fragment, Dennis stifles a yawn.
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Mimi looks about the garden and seeing no other places where further research papers could be hidden, says, "Unless I am in erreur, I teenk dat ees de bottom floor taken care of. Zaza, vhy don't you take dat fragment to Alyreha and see if she 'as any other suggestions, otherwise I beleeve ve vill be goeeng upstairs next."
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Zaza takes the fragment to Alyreha. "Here you go. We found another one in the garden. How much of your research is still missing? Any ideas on where to look? Or maybe you could figure out a way to get the crystal ball in the divination room to show us what's going on in the tower and the second floor?"
She listens carefully and takes note of any suggestions. Before she leaves she takes an opportunity to tease the skull once more. "So Zykyryz, are you sure this is your manor? We haven't ben hit in the face with any cream pies or had any water buckets tip over on our heads yet."
"Wow! Nice, good progress you have, I must say. Let me see," She looks over the notes on the three research fragments they have so far, and thinks for several moments. "I must admit that I do not yet have enough information to piece together what that portion of research means. Continue to look around for more. Have you searched every room on the first floor? You better check out the second floor too! To your right once you get up the stairs, there is a hallway leading to small rooms: my necromancy study room, my home office, my reading room, and the teaching hall. The room next to the hallway is the enchantment auditorium. The spacious area is for sure the evocation atrium and at one end is my transmutation showroom. Go while I keep this thing from bleeding."
Mimi finds the door of the Necromancy Study to be open. Searching the area, she, fortunately, notices flashes of dark lightning inside. She might want to warn them not to enter the room lest they want to be by such lightning.
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Seeing Mimi head up the stairs, Dennis quickly follows her, "Wait for me." Forgetting Kidron's sage advice, Dennis tries to run up the stairs, but his halberd and longbow slow him down. As usual.
He eventually reaches the landing and follows Mimi down the corridor. Dennis peeks inside the Necromancy Room, "Golly! Look at all the lightning." He explains, "I won't be much help. On rare occasions, I'd fall asleep in my magic classes." The occasions were whenever the teacher was talking.
The fighter steps aside so Zhamie can do her thing. When she announces "Ze vards are fixed," Dennis responds, "wee wee" and laughs as if he's said something really funny.
The investigator does not break a sweat in restoring the overloaded rune wards and sooner, the dark lightning dissipates and the room is now safe to be entered. In this study room, two small desks lay on the eastern and western sides. The western desk hums with a soft, soothing sound while the eastern one buzzes with an unsettling low noise. On either desk, numerous crafting and repair supplies lie scattered about, and prototype golem frames are piled up against the northern wall. The shelf on the southern wall contains several books in an array of unusual languages.
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Good spot Mimi! And not bad Z - looks like you learned something in the Abjuration room below! Zyek excitedly cheers on her colleagues.
Inside the space, the ysoki looks about but finds herself most fixated on the golemframes to the north. Solid design, joints seem inflexible. Likely due to magic wiping away physicality limitations - workaround given the level of engineering available. Would work, but so much excess power...
Shaking her head and realizing the party as a whole isn't here for construct specs, Zyek makes a note to check back on this more later and tries to see if any of the scrolls and notes around carry name elements.
Hey! I think this might be a code here! ...how long are arclord names anyway? Must be such a mouthful to say it everytime.
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When Zhaime clears the room, Dennis considers entering. But then he sees all the boring desks ... and dreadful books. Instead of rushing in, he makes an overly dramatic bow to the paladin. "After you, Mister Kidron." He hopes this uncharacteristic display of patience will earn him some well-deserved praise.
Upon finally entering, Dennis nearly runs into Zyek studying one of the books. He inadvertently glances at some of the pages.
Alas, these books look just like all the others he's 'read'. The youngster shrugs, and waits by the door to explore someplace else more fun.
With their collaborative efforts and arcane knowledge of Zaza, they are able to decode the cypher and reveal a fragment of research on Alyreha's true name. While they are at it, Mimi heads to the next room, the arclord's home office.
After making sure that the room has no traps whatsoever, Mimi easily opens the door and gets a peek inside. She finds that this room has several letters and other correspondence splayed on the desk alongside certificates and other obtuse bureaucratic paperwork. Numerous supplies for writing letters and correspondence are scattered around and inside the drawers of the desk. Reading quickly on them, Mimi discovers that most of the letters are decades old and none have any relevance to the current situation, but she finds one letter with the seal of the Blakros family on the bottom of it. The letter is a brief thank you note from Nigel Aldain, curator of Blakros Museum, thanking Alyreha for a tour of her manor and of her collection of magical items and artifacts.
With nothing to look for here, anyone can move to the next, Alyreha's Reading Room.
Sure enough, this area as well is safe to enter, This might bore Dennis again because the room contains a few magical tomes, namely several complicated books on magical theory, many of them focused on interactions with the plane of positive energy and the study of living constructs.
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As the paladin walks in to the room, after making sure that there were no surprises that emerged after them, he looks around. Passing by Dennis and hearing his passive aggressive remark, the paladin stops and looks at him. One would think that a boy who has trained as a squire would know the difference between a knight and one who is not,and how to properly address people according to their station. as he turns around to continues into the room.
He grabs the deck and examines it and announces, These cards might help to stabalize a member of our group who gets into trouble. His eyes stop at Dennis as he states this.
It looks to Mimi that the group has nothing to worry about traps and all. Entering the hall, she can see that on the far eastern wall of this small room, a board covered in complex magical runes in geometric arrangements is barely visible, nearly faded with the time this room has been untouched. The desk on the eastern side is covered in books, dried up inkwells and other writing implements. The room pulses with spiritual energy and wisps of airy magic all coalesce around a semi-transparent humanoid form sitting patiently at one of the chairs facing the desk.
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Mimi spots the ethereal humanoid form sitting in the corner and steps into the room to say hello. She glances over her shoulder to see what the others are doing and is surprised to see them packing the rest of the room behind her. Feeling a little claustrophic at being jammed up against an almost certainly dangerous creature with little room to maneouver, she decides to try and talk her way out of difficulty. Turning back to the ghostly figure, she says, "Vhy de long face, my dear. Surelee de situation ees not as bad as all dat. Ve are 'ere as representatives of de arclord Alyreha. Ve 'ave been tasked vith gathering 'er research notes in un effort to 'elp 'er regain 'er true name. Vould you perhaps know vhere ve might find more of deez notes?"
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When Kidron admonishes Dennis for addressing the knight improperly, Dennis quickly apologizes, "Sorry, Mis... Sir Kidron. My daddy taught me to show respect to my elders. He said to use words like Mister. But I'll say Sir from now on!" At the mention of getting in trouble, "Oh, I don't ever plan to get into trouble. Sometimes trouble finds me. But I'll be okay." He fast-walks down the hall to find Mimi.
Dennis stares at the ghostly figure. "Hi. Are you a real ghost? I'm Dennis. I'm human. Are you a nice ghost or a scary one?"
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When Kidron admonishes Dennis for addressing the knight improperly, Dennis quickly apologizes, "Sorry, Mis... Sir Kidron. My daddy taught me to show respect to my elders. He said to use words like Mister. But I'll say Sir from now on!" At the mention of getting in trouble, "Oh, I don't ever plan to get into trouble. Sometimes trouble finds me. But I'll be okay." He fast-walks down the hall to find Mimi.
Dennis stares at the ghostly figure. "Hi. Are you a real ghost? I'm Dennis. I'm human. Are you a nice ghost or a scary one?"
[dice=Diplomacy - Make an Impression]1d20+8
The young woman’s spirit sits patiently in one of the chairs opposite the desk and stares longingly at the wall. The ghost's pale face turns and brightens when she hears the mention of Alyreha from Mimi. "You know my teacher Alyreha?! I have been waiting for her so that I can resume my studies and finally become a master of the arcane. Do you know where she is? I really want to see her." she inquires. "I don't know what research notes are you talking about, but I heard a spiky woman, along with weird, clawed people, run through earlier ransacking this place, and I think they headed upstairs to the tower, but I could only catch a glimpse of them through the hallway since I'm bound to this part of the house." she tells them what she saw.
Turning to Dennis, she gives the fighter a thorough look by circling around him. "I think I am a good ghost. And I can see that you are a human." she comments. "And I think you are all good people, but not those intruders. I think they are bad. I actually tried to stop them from ransacking my teacher’s house, but they just pushed through me." she tells them lamentably. "I'm not far along enough in my studies to stop them with magic but I can offer up some supportive magic that I recently mastered."
"I am Neibiat by the way. So who would like some supportive magic? It's called a False Life spell, . Help me also stop those intruders, then help me find my teacher so I can continue my study." She then vanishes through a pile of papers under the desk and gets back to them. "You can also have my scroll of magic weapon which I kept in this room, and you can get it under the desk, buried under those papers, because I can't get it now." she shrugs.
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Spiky woman? Zyek's ears perk up. How spiky? Was it her hairstyle, or fur, or spiked armor? Or did she have a spiked back like an, ohwhatsthename, iruxi!?
Also - and hope its not disturbing you too much but you seem to know - so since you're a ghost do you know how you passed on? the ysoki asks bluntly.
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Mimi listens to the ghost's laments. "I'm afreid dat your teacher ees not at 'er best at present. Dat ees de raison ve are 'ere; to gather enough of 'er notes to allow 'er to return to 'er true form." When the ghost then mentions intruders and offers a spell to boost one's hardiness, Mimi says, "Do not vorree. Ve vill be takeeng care of de intruders soon enough, but I vill not say non to your kind offer of de False Life spell. Et may vell 'elp tilt de tide of battel in our faveur."
"I, I am not sure..." Neibiat spirit is embarrassed for her lack of details. "That's all I know, they are spiky." She then relaxes with the change of topic. "Well, since you asked, I am one of the students at the university that Alyreha sponsored. Unfortunately, I died in a magical accident, and it was quick that all I remember is that my body was fading into nothingness. As a ghost, Alyreha took me in as an apprentice, so I can master magic and, hopefully, one day, she thinks, I may move on." she tells Zyek.
Learnign something about what happened to her teacher, she gets worried but not pushes them to see Alyreha until she returns to her true state. "Is that so? I hope you will be able to find what you need to find for her. Though I think you can't find any of the research you are looking for here about True Names" she admits.
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Dennis is amazed that he's actually talking to a real ghost. "Golly, Neibiat. You're the first ghost I've ever talked to." He snaps his fingers and says, "You should be a Pathfinder. I don't know if ghosts can join. But maybe? You'd love it there. Lots of smart people to teach you." He looks around to see what the others think, and then quickly says, "But we'll make sure Alyreha knows you're here. Don't worry!"
At the mention of spells, Dennis puts his hand up. "If there's enough False Life spells for everyone, pick me, pick me! But if there's only one, Mimi can have it. I'm good at sharing." He smiles proudly.
When the group is ready to move on, Dennis hears Kidron warning him not to run ahead, "But ... but..." Dennis animatedly points to Mimi. "But she ... I was just ..." In a low voice, he mocks the paladin's voice and mannerisms, "Be cautious..Don't get into trouble." However, Dennis knows the knight means well. He makes his way to the exit and, while looking to Kidron for approval, waits by the door for the others. From the doorway, he dramatically mouths to Kidron, "See?"
"Well, I don't know if I can be a Pathfinder. But for now, I will focus on my arcane study when I get a chance to meet again my teacher. Anyway," Neibiat makes some weird casting at Mimi. "There you go."