White: vs EA
Black: vs EA
Zepth inspires allies to fight and zaps the two robbers in front of them, both of which takes some electrocution.
"More guards?! I thought we took care all of them?" Red exclaims and advances with club at hand, making ready to do something.
B damage
"Maybe there are more we haven't seen!" Blue responds and joins the others, ready to hit anyone who gets close to them.
B damage
Party Condition(s): +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects
Terrain Feature(s): Walls block line of sight.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s):
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
Zepth | |
Red-Masked Robber |
Blue-Masked Robber |
➤ Hanu, Friend of the Wood | |
➤ Moist Definitely | |
White-Masked Robber |
Otani | Cursebound 1 | |
Rybar Ganon | |
Black-Masked Robber |
Olegaro | |
|
What to do about intruders...
Moist decides to hop to the front of the skirmish and export a wave of his dreams over them.
Success The creature is dazzled for 1 round.
Failure The creature is stunned 1, blinded for 1 round, and dazzled for 1 minute.
Critical Failure The creature is stunned for 1 round and blinded for 1 minute.
Oh... I've forgotten about that dream. I was the frying pan, and cooks were upset with me!
He looks back, wondering what his teammates think of the odd images in the colorful miasma. It only last moments anyway.
Red: vs Dizzying Colors
White: vs Dizzying Colors
Blue: vs Dizzying Colors
Moist closes in, of which he is attacked by Red and hits! He then washes their eyes with dizzying colorful dreams, but Red lashes out at him!
B damage
Nonetheless, Moist causes them to be stunned 1, blinded for 1 round, and dazzled for 1 minute! The dreams must have been very overwhelming to them, especially White.
Party Condition(s): +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects
Terrain Feature(s): Walls block line of sight.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s):
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
Zepth | |
Red-Masked Robber | Stunned 1, Blinded (1 rd), Dazzled (1 min) |
Blue-Masked Robber | Stunned 1, Blinded (1 rd), Dazzled (1 min) |
➤ Hanu, Friend of the Wood | |
Moist Definitely | |
White-Masked Robber | Stunned (1 rd), Blinded (1 min) |
Otani | Cursebound 1 | |
Rybar Ganon | |
Black-Masked Robber |
Olegaro | |
Hanu calls the power of nature to blast wood at one of the enemies and it hits! He then plants a magical tree that can take damage for allies.
White, too stunned to move stands in place frozen. The colorful dream brings them to the dreamland, or perhaps...
Party Condition(s): +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects
Terrain Feature(s): Walls block line of sight.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s):
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
Zepth | |
Red-Masked Robber | Stunned 1, Blinded (1 rd), Dazzled (1 min) |
Blue-Masked Robber | Stunned 1, Blinded (1 rd), Dazzled (1 min) |
Hanu, Friend of the Wood | |
Moist Definitely | |
White-Masked Robber | Blinded (1 min) |
➤ Otani | Cursebound 1 | |
➤ Rybar Ganon | |
Black-Masked Robber |
Olegaro | |
Otani easily scares the poop out of Black by just a mere glare that they also wet their pants.
Black: vs EA
White: vs EA
Otani then zaps them, which takes Black out of the equation, while White wonders who electrocutes him while blinded.
Party Condition(s): +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects
Terrain Feature(s): Walls block line of sight.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s):
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
➤ Zepth | |
Red-Masked Robber | Stunned 1, Blinded (1 rd), Dazzled (1 min) |
Blue-Masked Robber | Stunned 1, Blinded (1 rd), Dazzled (1 min) |
Hanu, Friend of the Wood | |
Moist Definitely | |
White-Masked Robber | Blinded (1 min) |
Otani | Cursebound 1 | |
➤ Rybar Ganon | |
Black-Masked Robber |
➤ Olegaro | |
|
Olegaro will charge around to behind red and strike the flanked robber
◆◆ Sudden charge, striking Red with his longsword for slashing damage
◆ Raise shield - Steel Shield (Hardness 5, HP 20, BT 10) +2 to AC
----
↺ Shield Block with the steel shield to reduce damage by 5 and then Olegaro and the shield both take the remaining damage.
Olegaro moves about to flank Red, creating a nice cut with his blade. . He then raises his shield.
Zepth easily trips the Red-masked robber, falling flat to the floor, breaking their nose for B damage.
As Rybar closes into his target he is having trouble pulling out what he needs to counter the enemy. Nonetheless, his retaliation strikes home, poking his target in the chest.
Red isn't moving for a while and realizes they are flat on the ground with a broken nose. They blindly stand up just to be sliced by Olegaro
Still blinded, they try to Strike back their attacker.
They swing with full force just to hit the ground instead of the fighter. Blue, on the other hand, gets back into their senses just to find out they can't see for now. They retaliate at their attacker, Rybar.
B damage
A massive blow could have landed on Rybar's chest if not for the protective tree of Hanu whose sturdy branch takes the damage instead!
"What was that?!" Bleu exclaims when they hear a cracking wooden branch instead of cracking bones. They swing their club again!
But the second swing, fortunately, is a miss.
Party Condition(s): +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects
Terrain Feature(s): Walls block line of sight.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s): OG means Off-Guard.
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
Zepth | |
Red-Masked Robber | Dazzled (1 min) |
Blue-Masked Robber | Dazzled (1 min) |
➤ Hanu, Friend of the Wood | |
➤ Moist Definitely | |
White-Masked Robber | Blinded (1 min) |
Otani | Cursebound 1 | |
Rybar Ganon | OG (1 rd) | |
Black-Masked Robber |
Olegaro | |
|
|
Seeing his foes all nicely lined up, he giggles, and tumbles behind and around, then, waving his hands, gathers the wind of his passing cartwheel into a Boomering shape, and unleashes upon the trio!
◆) Stride
◆◆) Aerial Boomerang
Hanu cartwheels to a perfect spot and gathers the wind from the outside that flutters the open doors and windows to form a boomerang and lash it out toward the aligned enemies!
Red:
White:
Blue:
They miraculously manage not to be hurt that much. Unfortunately, White is 1 HP away from their demise.
Party Condition(s): +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects
Terrain Feature(s): Walls block line of sight.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Note(s): OG means Off-Guard.
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT! STRIKETHROUGH NAMES ARE ELIMINATED.
➤ Zepth | |
Red-Masked Robber | Dazzled (1 min) |
Blue-Masked Robber | Dazzled (1 min) |
Hanu, Friend of the Wood | |
➤ Moist Definitely | |
White-Masked Robber |
➤ Otani | Cursebound 1 | |
➤ Rybar Ganon | |
Black-Masked Robber |
➤ Olegaro | |
Otani attempts to scare Blue with an intense glare and they interpret it as a maniacal attempt to eat them!
Otani then zaps the remaining enemies.
Red:
Blue:
Red is partly hurt while scared Blue takes full current.
|
|
Olegaro shakes his head at the Red masked robber "Tsk tsk, really? Raiding a Pathfinder Lodge? That's a very quick way to a short career." and will strike him twice non lethally and as the last one missed, strike a third time.
◆ Strike off-guard Red with his longsword for non-lethal damage
◆ Exacting strike off-guard Red with his longsword for non-lethal damage
◆ Follow up strike on off-guard Red with his longsword for non-lethal damage
--
Zepth attempts to trip Blue but the robber stands on their ground for sure, he then zaps Red and Blue.
Red: vs EA
Blue: vs EA
They both manage to evade the worst of it.
Moist carefully moves away from them and heals himself with the potion he has.
Olegaro knocks down Red with his sword before they can respond to him, and moves to do the same to Blue.
Hanu, Friend of the Wood (42/42 HP) [2☘️]
Moist Definitely (18/24 HP) [2☘️]
Otani (33/33 HP) [2☘️] | Cursebound 1
Rybar Ganon (35/35 HP) [2☘️]
Olegaro (44/44 HP) [2☘️]
The robbers seem to be cultists looking to steal religious artifacts in the lodge.
Shortly after the fight ends, somebody bangs on the doors at the north to get their attention. Who could that be?
On the other hand, Taiwalei returns with the guards he rescued and informs the Pathfinders that he’s already informed the Grand Lodge of what was going on and that the other lodges have also been checked on and secured.
"Ey, you robbers, get me out of here!" somebody says on the other side of the door in a muffled voice. The banging continues but are now weaker.
|
As Olegaro tries to bash open the door, Zepth tries to help with a kick "Hmm, let me help you with that".
However, the door proves to be too sturdy for the bard.
"Well, this door is sure sturdy, let's try the both of us at the same time now", insists Zepth as this time they are able to smash the door open.
Olegaro has a hard time opening the door forcibly. Zepth comes in to help, and Otani, of which together they shows brute force to open it successfully.
They open the door and find behind it what looks like a willow dryad who is going out and about to attack them!
But when she is about to hit weakly at one of the frontlines, she stops when she identifies them as Pathfinders and falls on her knees.
"Ah, thank you! You saved me." She says weakly. She looks tired but glad to see friendly faces. She also has some visible injuries from being
attacked
She looks around and finds the robbers lying on the ground, taken care of by the rescued guards by tying those unconscious.
She receives the banana and eats it. She feels invigorated. "I feel... full of life again! Thank you!" she also bows to Hanu before standing up.
“Lin Selan, or is it Selan Lin in Avistan? Pathfinder of the 4723 ar cohort, currently active at Woodsedge on a project to locate some elemental portals. And before you guess, no I’m not a dryad. I’m an ardande, an ancestor of mine was a wood genie.” Selan says without batting an eye. “I’m a kineticist. Move the elements. Make them into other things or each other. All that exciting stuff.” she responds to Otani.
“I was babysitting some wisp familiars for my teachers and coworkers. I had a chronicle to finish writing, so I offered to stay and watch the rascals. Got outsmarted though. The wisps took off for the maze, I ran in after them. I have been looking for the past... five hours or so?” A slight shade of despair falls over Selan’s face. “Ashasar is never going to let me live this down. The wisp familiars, well, they’re mischievous with a capital M. We were afraid they might wreak havoc over at the party. Imagine bringing five baby goblins to a festival, except each wields fire of a different element. Oh, and they fly 200 feet in a minute.” she adds.
"Well, anyway, as for what happened here? I went to this lodge to look for those wisps when I found these robbers trying to steal the artifacts here, and when they saw me, they ganged me up and locked me in that room you break, which I am thankful, of course." she finally answers Zepth with his question.
"I need to go back to the Woodsedge Lodge. Thank you so much for your help." she says and is about to leave when Taiwalei asks her.
"How did you not get lost in the Maze? We had trouble at first but managed to arrive at this lodge."
Selan turns to Taiwalei. "The trees give hints if you’re friendly enough, though that might just be the wood genie in me. They were kind enough to help us find some elemental portals days ago, at least.”
"Where are these elemental portals?" Taiwalei asks more, but this time shows incredible interest in the elemental portals.
"While I can’t show you myself right now, I can ask the trees again and write down what they say.” she replies, scratching her head.
Taiwalei then turns to the Pathfinder, and they can see some sparkle of excitement in his eyes. "I want to explore these elemental portals. Can we go there next instead?" he pleads the Pathfinders with puppy eyes.
|
|
Olegaro nods appreciatively as Zepth and Rybar get the door open.
Then he will listen to Selan and Taiwalei discuss the maze and in response to Taiwalei says "Are you happy to go there instead of the other lodges? We have strict instructions to get you back before the celebrations are over so we would have to choose which to do. I for one don't mind where we see."
He then frowns, remembering back to earlier journeys. "Say you wouldn't know if there is an exit in Garund, say near Vidrian?"
"Yes! Instead of going to the remaining lodges, I decided to explore the elemental portals instead." there is conviction in Taiwalei's words.
Meanwhile, Selan gladly goes while the group is deciding, speaks with the trees, and obtains the instructions for three portals.
When she gets back, she gives them the instructions or rather several perplexing riddles.
"I would like to note that the trees’ instruction shouldn’t be taken at face value, as they do like to see people get lost sometimes." Selan notes to them. She then waves them goodbye and goes back to Woodsedge Lodge to rest.
The maze riddle Selan gives them reads:
To find the land of growth and decay
Ignore the spring but not the fray
Choose the spring if you seek summer
But step back if you’ve gone three steps further
Step back from the growth and the harvest
Winter awaits in the opposite forest
Caution, mortals! To not fall and drown.
You must remember, do not look down!
Then turning to Selan he will ask "So these wisps - do you think they'll be back at Woodsedge lodge?"
"I think so. I will keep looking for them after, anyway."
"When we find these whisps ... how do we get them to behave? Do you have some sort of contraption to contain them?"
"Let me know if you find them first. I'll keep tabs with the trees to find your group."
Aren't these Elemental Portals leading to the actual elements? Not a big fan of water.
"Actually, yes. Just be careful when you find and go through these portals."
---------------
Heading out to find the elemental portals by following the instructions provided by Selan, the group goes to the hedge maze's main pathway, which is a circular path that ultimately brings them back to the starting point.
----------
---------------
As they follow Olegaro in navigating the maze, they find that the trees of the hedge maze are 15 feet tall and too dense to move through. The dense trees obscure which paths connect and which are dead ends. The paths are all exposed to the sky and thus under bright light, but the paths muffle sound more than normal for a hedge maze.
But before they find an elemental portal, they come across a resting pool. This small artificial pond gives a calm and peaceful aura and is the perfect place to rest in. The water is clear, easily letting the viewer see what is at the bottom of the pond. A rucksack tied to a stone has sunk to the bottom of the pool 10 feet below.