Hooli recognizes the undead as a taunting skull. These clever undead often provoke their victims into foolishly giving chase or harming themselves. They are weak to positive damage.
The creature dodges her fire and laughs. ”Is that the best you've got? Come on then and show me your so-called prowess!” the skull taunts as it flies at the kitsune, goading her before biting!
Meanwhile, two of the other rotting heads wriggle and tear themselves free of the trees they are hanging from! They fly at Hooli to bite at her, as well.
Critical Success: The target is unaffected and is temporarily immune for 1 minute.
Success: The target is unaffected.
Failure: The target is flat-footed for 1 round. On its next turn, if the taunting skull is within the target's reach, the target wildly attacks the taunting skull as many times as possible.
Critical Failure: As failure, but the target also immediately performs a Strike against itself; this Strike doesn't take any actions.
The Alchemist Commands Blue to Quick Brew a Quicksilver Mutagen and pour it down his gullet!
Quicksilver Mutagen, moderate
Li Jie hisses at the Talking Heads, before Quick Bombing them!
The Medic then pays Hooli a Doctor's Visitation!
The Nagaji smiles.
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HP 50/58
AC 22
Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +10
Hero points: 2
Seasonal Boon: summer []; fall []; winter []; spring []
Spells: 1st []
Effects:
Fortified just enough by the shrine's light, Hooli ignores the skull's taunting -- sort of. "You call that rude! I can be much ruder!" She fires a blast of needles at it.
Kwan Tai strikes an stance that imparts an awful dread to his already fearsome appearance...
[ooc]Crit! Tai's marshal's aura increases to a 20-foot emanation, and it grants him and allies a status bonus to damage rolls equal to the number of weapon damage dice of the unarmed attack or weapon you are wielding that has the most weapon damage dice. When he or an ally in the aura critically hits an enemy with a Strike, that enemy is frightened 1.
But it is all too clear that the obnoxious skulls have yet to be impressed.
Xiung-Lau plucks two of the flowers, in case they are needed later.
Xiung-Lau hums, shadows lengthening around him and seeming to work with the allies, as if drawing out in the air paths of attack that help their blows.
The shadows also lash out at the taunting skull, trying to engulf it in shadows.
Xiung-Lau shrouds the skull's eye sockets in darkness. Kwan Tai enters his stance and swings at the other rotting heads, surprising himself when he manages to hit one of them and shatter it in a single blow! Lie Jie melts through the other one with a well-placed acid vial before tending to Hooli's wounds. Hooli fails to demoralize the final, more powerful skull, and it dodges her darts. It snaps back at her, but misses.
Undeterred, it continue to gnash and bite, getting in a critical hit!
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HP 34/58
AC 22
Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +10
Hero points: 2
Seasonal Boon: summer []; fall []; winter []; spring []
Spells: 1st []
Effects:
"Ouch! Didn't your mother teach you not to bite?!" Hooli exclaims, stabbing at the skull. She feints first with one dagger, then the other before attacking again with the first.
"These foes are beneath us! Simply crush them," Kwan Tai scoffs, suiting actions to words.
Li Jie hisses at the remaining Skull before Commanding Blue to take a Numbing Tonic and pour it down his throat. The Nagaji then Strides (Steps) into Flank with Hooli before Striking!
Lie Jie and Kwan Tai flank the floating skull, laying into it mercilessly. With the final hammer blow, Kwan Tai shatters the skull into fragments!
The Nagaji spits.
This place is definitely not fitting for tourists.
Once you have tended to your wounds, you press on. The rain returns as the afternoon wears on, and by the time the sun has begun to set, it has increased in force into a full-on thunderstorm! You weather the storm, knowing that the Mountain Shrine isn't far now!
Thunder booms overhead, and a flash of lightning illuminates a waterfall ahead. It pours over a fifty-foot-high cliff into the river below, the sound of the cascading water somewhat obscured by the howl of the wind and the pounding of the rain. A rickety wood bridge allows passage over the river, while a narrow set of steps wind up off the path into the escarpments to the north.
You carefully cross the bridge and ascend the stairs to the top of the waterfall. Here, a wide lake separates you from the Mountain Shrine on the far side. A rope is strung between two pulleys affixed to poles on either side of the lakeshore. A raft is affixed to the ropes. It looks like you can use this to cross the river with enough strength.
Li Jie hisses at the storm.
You're most likely correct, Hooli. Anyone got protection from lightning? I may have an Elixir or Mutagen that may help.
The Alchemist begins leafing through his formulas....
Antidote 1/1
Antiplague
Bestial Mutagen, lesser/moderate 2/2
Eagle-Eye Elixir
Elixir of Life 2/2
Juggernaut Elixir, lesser/ moderate
Ghost Charge 2/2
Leaper's Elixir
Quicksilver Mutagen
Cheetah's Elixir
Smoke stick
Numbing Tonic 2/1
Bravo's Brew
Mist Form Elixir
Spiderfoot brew
Lethargy Poison
Violet Venom
"Only behind such tests does anything of true value lie." Kwan Tai shouts, setting aside his longhammer as he prepares to haul at the raft.
Kwan Tai easily hauls the raft over, allowing you to inspect it closely. It appears to be sturdy with no damage to its structure. It should be safe to board.
After folks are patched up, Refocused and ready, the Alchemist boards the raft....
Absolutely nothing to worry about.... absolutely nothing...to be worried about....nope....
The Nagaji sounds completely opposite of his words ...
You step onto the raft begin to haul yourselves across to the far side. When you are about 20 feet across the 60-foot-wide lake, though, a flash of lightning and burst of thunder herald the arrival of a horrid crone, who descends from the storm clouds above! She hovers in the air, unaffected by the whipping winds, as she cackles menacingly. "I am Iogaka, Storm Mother! Your presence in my domain is a grave insult! For your insolence, you must die!"
Before you can react, Iogaka drops down to hover just above the lake. She casts a spell, sending a bolt of crackling lightning through Kwan Tai, Xiung-Lau, and the pulley system for the raft! The ropes behind you burn and snap, and the raft begins to drift towards the waterfall!
Critical Success: The raft moves 25 feet.
Success: The raft moves 15 feet.
Failure: The raft moves 5 feet.
Critical Failure: The raft doesn’t move.
A sighing Alchemist Commands Blue to grab and drop a Beastial Mutagen down his gullet!
Item 3
Source Player Core 2 pg. 289 1.1
Price 12 gp
Bulk L
You gain a +2 item bonus, your claw deals 2d6 slashing damage, your jaws deal 2d8 piercing damage, and the duration is 10 minutes.
The beefy Nagaji then takes the rope in both hands and begins his Tug of War game against the current, the wind, and that wet burrito he had this morning!
The Nagaji Alchemist does not give up!
Kwan Tai's armor saves him from the worst of the storm, but the howling wind and slick rope keep him from moving the raft far...
Xiung-Lau casts shroud of night toward the hag.
He then hurls a shadow dagger toward the hag.
Lie Jie's muscles bulge as he tugs on the rope, despite the broken pulley. He moves the raft away from the falls and closer to the far shore.
Hooli recognizes Iogaka as a storm hag. These hags send their voices on the wind to terrorize mortals before descending upon them with claws and fell magic. They are immune to electricity but weak to cold iron weapons.
Iogaka spins in mid-air, avoiding Hooli's darts and Xiung-Lau's shadow dagger. She continues to spin as she cackles and flies over to the post to which the rope Li Jie is hauling is connected. With two swift slices of her claws, she severs the rope!
The raft drifts back towards the falls again, and this time, there's no rope to stop it!
Li Jie hisses at the unfortunate turn of events. The Nagaji looks at the limp rope resting in his hands.
Perhaps it is a pleasant day for a Swim?
Reaching into a pouch, the Alchemist retrieves a Versatile Vial, Quick Brews a Bomb, and tosses at the mean witch!
Item 4
You gain a +1 item bonus to attack rolls. The bomb deals 2d6 acid damage and 2 acid splash damage.
He then dives into the waters!
Swimming..... swimming....
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HP 58/58
AC 22
Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +10
Hero points: 2
Seasonal Boon: summer []; fall []; winter []; spring []
Spells: 1st []
Effects:
"That's not fair!" Hooli cries as she fires a cold iron needle dart in the hag's direction. She looks at the water, and sighs. She's pretty sure she's not going to be able to swim in it -- but does it really matter if she's on the raft or not when it carries her over the falls?
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Xiung-Lau glances around. "Now might not be the best time to mention it, but I am not a very proficient swimmer ..." He swings his staff, hurling another shadow dagger toward the hag.
He reaches into the folds of his robe and pulls out a scroll.
"Hells, keep your torments for the failures, not for us," Kwan Tai breathes.
Kwan Tai pulls out his sling, unloads it with a desultory throw at the hag, and then plunges into the water, though he makes little headway as yet...
Lie Jie's bomb splashes harmlessly into the water, but the rest of you hit. Kwan Tai's sling bullet and Xiung-Lau's spiritual weapon both injure her, but Hooli's cold iron needles are very effective, exploiting her weakness.
Shrieking in pain, the hag hovers in the air as she fires another bolt of lightning at Hooli!
Against the clamor of lightning, wind, and rain, Xiung-Lau chants and triggers the magic from the scroll in his hand, conjuring a wooden spiral staircase hovering firmly held just above the water. He hopes to orient it so that it's base will stop the movement of the raft (and also hopes that its wooden nature will protect it from the hag's electrical wrath) ... but to be on the safe side, he steps off the raft and stands on the firm staircase that leads nowhere, moving as far up as he can to give room to the others.
Kwan Tai hauls himself out of the rushing river, and starts fishing rope out of his pack. Xiung-Lau is on the stairs; Li Jie is a mighty swimmer; Hooli... With a sigh he throws the rope to her and strains to pull her in.
Swimming..... swimming....
Swimming..... swimming....
.... swimming....
Swimming..... swimming....
The struggle seems real....
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HP 58/58
AC 22
Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +10
Hero points: 2
Seasonal Boon: summer []; fall []; winter []; spring []
Spells: 1st []
Effects:
Hooli's eyes widen as she sees the lightning coming -- and she dives under the water, somehow avoiding being shocked at all! She fires another blast of cold iron darts at the hag and then grabs onto the rope!
Xiung-Lau's conjured stairs provide a safe, sturdy place for him to stand. Kwan Tai and Lie Jie make it solid ground, and Hooli grabs the rope Kwan Tai throws to her, taking a moment to pepper Iogaka with more cold iron darts!
Shrieking, the hag blasts Hooli with concentrated bursts of wind!
Though he's now not in danger of falling to his death over the waterfall, doing so meant that he was unable to sustain his previous spells. He holds his staff up, swirling the shadows around him and throwing them toward the hag, in an attempt to shroud her and then to damage her.
Blasts of shadow slam into the hag.
Turning his Nagaji eyes to look at the situation, the Alchemist decides to call out a Triple Play!
The Chirogeon tosses a Vial at the struggling Hooli!
Your versatile vials can be used to heal a living creature a number of Hit Points equal to the vial’s initial damage. A creature can drink the vial for this benefit, or you can throw the vial at a willing creature within 20 feet as an Interact action to heal that creature. In either case, a vial used this way loses the acid and splash traits and gains the coagulant and healing traits, plus the elixir trait if a creature drinks it.
Field Discovery 5th
Your medicinal elixirs are quite fortifying. When a creature drinks an infused elixir with the healing trait that you have created, that creature gains a number of temporary Hit Points equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 0); these temporary Hit Points last for 1 minute.
The Alchemist then Throws a Bomb at the Hag!
He the Aids Hooli's attempts with the rope.
The Nagaji settles for a Single ...
Now in the relative safety of the shore, Tai continues pelting the hag.
Kwan Tai hits Iogaka with two sling bullets, then Xiung-Lau scores a critical hit with a phase bolt! The hag screeches as she plummets from the sky, splashing down into the raging waters as Lie Jie hauls Hooli out of the water to safety.
With the hag's death, the raging thunderstorm immediately begins to abate. Within an hour, it will be nothing more than a light drizzle.
As you look around, you see the Mountain Shrine nearby. When Master Zhi Hui first ascended these mountain, she was drawn to the majestic waterfalls that cascade into this lake and was taken by the site’s beauty. In light of rivers’ symbolism in so many myths and parables about the cycle of life and death, this seemed the perfect place to set up the Pilgrim’s Path’s third shrine, to parallel the Bridge Shrine’s position. Unlike that shrine, though, the presence of the small lake here, where river waters gather and linger, does not symbolize the cycle of life to death; it asks the pilgrim to contemplate each life as something to be enjoyed and also gives the pilgrims a perfect place to bathe and wash at the end of a tiring day of climbing.
In the shrine, you find a lesser thurible of revelation decorated with images of sugi trees that sits on the central stone platform. Iogaka has filled the thurible with mud and dead fish, so it must be cleaned out before it can be used.
Nearby, a small cave contains six reed mats for pilgrims to sleep on, along with several towels and brushes to aid in bathing. In addition to the towels and scrubbing brushes to aid bathing in the lake waters, four bars of invigorating soap sit on a small ledge.
As the storm dies down, and with the help of the others, Xiung-Lau and his walking cauldron are able to make it back to shore before his staircase vanishes.
He says to Li Jie, "Some healing, if you wouldn't mind?"
Looking around the Mountain Shrine, Xiung-Lau points at the *thurible*. "Anyone mind if I restore this and keep it?" Assuming there is no resistance to this idea, Xiung-Lau very carefully cleans the thurible, using it as a meditative practice in his sacred place. He then proceeds to the bathing of himself, pleased to have access to the invigorating soap.
The Nagaji Alchemist does indeed pass out a multitude of Healing elixirs while splashing about in the pool!
Jussst rewardsss!
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You bathe in the lake's waters, cleaning off the dust and grime of the past few days' journey. You rest overnight, awakening to a cold but clear day. For the first time since starting along the Pilgrim's Path, the sky is blue and free of clouds. You feel stronger from your recent experiences...
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Refreshed, Xiung-Lau goes to sleep. Once he enters the realm of dreams, however, Crawler of Night begins a curious task. The spider begins weaving a dense shell of webbing around itself.
Within Xiung-Lau's dreams ...
A eight-year-old Xiung-Lau sits outside, under a tree at dusk. He has a piece of parchment, and some colored inks, painting an image of a tree that is taking on its fall colors.
A bird sits on one of the branches, prominent in Xiung-Lau's drawing. A whippoorwill. When completed, the bird flies toward him, startling the boy, and lands near the parchment. It tilts its head, looking at the picture, and then hops toward it, pecking lightly toward the paper.
Xiung-Lau says to the bird, "Yes ... Yes, that is you." He points. "See, there is the night coming in, and there are your wings, ready to take flight." The bird turns its head, then flies up in the air, around in circles, chirping pleasantly....
The scene fades, transitioning to a new scene. The boy is older, in the kitchen with his mother. Together, they are preparing a soup. The bird flies in through the window from the night sky outside. "Hello, Wing of Night," Xiung-Lau says.
His mother glances over with a smile. "Is your friend joining us for dinner?"
The bird lands on Xiung-Lau's shoulder. The boy can see that the bird is holding a small, perfectly spherical black stone in its beak. He holds up his hand, and the bird drops the beak in his hand. "Look, mother! He gave me a present. It's like yours!"
His mother turns, laughing, and then sees the gift ... and her face shifts, a cry of anguish and loss escaping her lips. She pulls the necklace from under her dress, carrying an identical stone. "Yes ... Yes, it is." She kneels down to Xiung-Lau, looking curiously at the bird. "This stone was a gift ... from your father. I think, perhaps, this bird ... it is maybe a companion sent from him. The whippoorwill is ... it had meaning for him."
Xiung-Lau looks at the bird, a renewed fascination on his face as the scene fades ... resolving into a new scene, when the boy is slightly older, maybe 10. It is night, and he is beneath the tree where he met Wings of Night ... holding the dead bird in his hands, and crying. "I will miss you," he whispers to its dead body, as he buries it in the hole he has dug for it.
A wind rises, and the tree's shadow in the moonlight flickers ... resolving into a form nearby, but still obscured. It speaks, "You have long walked along the boundary of light and darkness, daylight and shadow, life and death ... The shadow needs light, but light can overwhelm it. You have fought the darkness, but know that balance is needed."
The shadow then lashes out, but the young Xiung-Lau holds up a hand, and the shadow freezes, held at bay. "No," young Xiung-Lau says, transforming into his current form. "The shadow strikes for me, not at me ..." And with that, the shadow responds to his command, turning to strike at the tree.
... and the dream ends, but as it fades, Xiung-Lau looks down at the body of Wings of Night ... only to see that it is no longer there.
Xiung-Lau awakens, finding himself without his familiar spider. In its place is an egg, roughly the size of an apple, woven out of dense webbing, but hard like an eggshell. "Well," he says. "This is ... curious." Instinctively, he reaches up to touch at his necklace, which contains two stones ... the one his mother wore, and the one given to him all those years ago by his friend.
Li Jie Qiang sleeps soundly the entire evening and into the early morning. The Alchemist performs his Daily Preparations before enjoying his morning coffee.
Wouldn't mind bottling this stuff.
After breakfast (which may or may not include bacon), you continue on the final leg of your journey to the Tan Sugi Monastery. This leg sees the path rise over a crest and then descend into a valley at the top of a mountain, for the Tan Sugi monastery is built within the ancient, forested caldera of a small and long dormant volcano. About an hour before sunset, you come to the end of the Pilgrim’s Path, where a small shrine stands next to a plain wooden arch that looms over the path. As you approach, the chill in the air suddenly abates. As a comforting fall warmth settles over the area, the sound of singing birds and chirping cicadas fills the air, and even the scent of the surrounding forest grows more vibrant and soothing.
You feel a welcoming pride, but also an unmistakable sense of peril at what lies ahead. In addition to these feelings, you also experience an urge to investigate the small shrine alongside the path. Within the shrine are several potent magic items.
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Xiung-Lau carries the small egg with him throughout the day. "It is strange. I can still hear Crawler of Night's voice within the egg ... but it is changing, somehow." He shrugs. "I rarely understand the ways of my patron ... but what else would I expect from one cloaked in shadows?"
He helps identify the objects in the shrine. "The ghost scarf and spirit fan are likely more helpful for those who would be fighting with weapons. I would take either the hairpin or mind wrap."
The ever curious Alchemist seems intrigued by Crawlers pending transformation.
Is he evolving?
At the end of the road, path, the Nagaji stretches comfortably as he enjoys the sights and warmth of this area.
Investigating the small shrine, Li Jie examines the found items before turning them all over for the others.
Gifts? Probably be rude not to accept them, although my elixirs can mimic most of these.