Kazuki's arrows penetrates the spirit's heart - it screams in surprise of being stung so potently!
The scream probably wakes the others!
Only Lan continues to lazily snore!
Auntie Wu wakes up with a feathered slap, and...
Kazuki's blurry eyes go wide in shock after noticing his arrow sticking out of the phantom's chest.
"Well, that was lucky." he mumbles to himself, still groggy from being woken up so suddenly.
"What?" Sigurd stirs awake to a sudden scream. "Ghosts."
"Lan, wake up."
"How can you sleep through this?"
Sigurd sighs and stands up.
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"That looks delicious, thank you ... zzz ..."
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"Spirits?! Drat!" And of course, she *still* doesn't have an appropriate spell prepared! Instead, she grabs her Staff of healing and jabs it directly into the spirit closest to her to deliver a blast of healing power directly into its core.
"Lan! Wake up, dang you!" She plunks Mogu on Lan's face, hoping the mushroom's filaments tickle his nose enough to wake him.
Auntie Wu rolls over and zots the ghost with her staff - it's retaliation is fierce!
Blue Ghost
◆) Strike vs Auntie Wu
◆) Grab
◆) Drag 10 feet towards water
Grabbing her by her throat chakra, it begins to slowly drag her into the nearby water!
The other ghost attempts the same with a snoring Lan!
Purple Ghost
◆) Strike vs Lan
◆) Grab
◆) Drag 10 feet towards water
He finally wakes up!
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
SPIRITS FROM THE DEPTHS
Monster ID: Occultism (20) or Religion (20) @ Success to RK (Offense or Defense)
Rest?: Full HP / FP, but not Full Rested since bedding down
Blue Ghost @ -20 @ Grabbing Auntie Wu
Purple Ghost @ Grabbing Lan
Kazuki @ unarmored, w/ bow
Sigurd @ unarmored, unarmed
Vekka
Auntie Wu @ prone, unarmored (AC 20), w/ staff @ Grabbed by Blue @ -10
Lan @ prone, unarmored (AC 18 fatigued), unarmed @ Grabbed by Purple @ -4
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Seeing his friends being dragged away fully awakes Kazuki.
"Oh no you don't, fiends!"
He marks the blue lit ghost as his prey and fires off a bunch of arrows...
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Lan is riding his unicorn through the tea shop, sampling all the dumplings that have been carefully arranged for him on other peoples' tables, when one of the servers dares grab him on the leg.
"I'll take four of the mushroom ones," he tells her. But she just stares at him.
Her fingernails begin to grow longer and longer, wrapping around his leg and spiraling upward.
"How can you sleep through this?" she asks.
"Thank you, it's from Goku," Lan brags. But the hand wrapped around his leg begins to alarm him.
"Wake up, dang you!" one of the other patrons says. But he also grabs Lan's leg, his fingers elongating to spiral upward.
"Stop badgering me! Badger? Badger? Badger?" Lan asks. Then he wakes up.
"" he yells with a start.
◆◆◆
Auntie Wu's demonstration with her staff tells Sigurd all he needs to know.
"Shizuru! Shine your light upon us! Banish these ghosts to the afterlife!"
Shizuru's Divine Font shines one more time.
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Once again, Kazuki cringes when Sigurd says the forbidden word.
"Does he not respect the Eight Practices?" he wonders.
"Hopefull Shizuru does not object and will watch over him."
This is a Shui Gui! Vekka shouts to the others.
He then proceeds to share their defenses with the team:
Resistances: all damage 5 (except fire, force, ghost touch, spirit, or vitality; double resistance vs. non-magical)
Tapping a spell drum behind him, he sends a bolt of flame after one of them.
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"Really? The water? Here!" Auntie Wu again jabs her Staff of Healing into the center of the Blue, uh, *visitor* and releases a pulse of healing magic into its core.
If it isn't destroyed, she touches it with a Lay on Hands.
Everybody is finally awake. Lan too.
Kazuki's final shot strikes true.
Lan tries casting a spell while held fast
As does Sigurd.
And Vekka - discovering a weakness to fire! - destroys the last one...
And so, the party - a little riled - continues their Long Rest...
...but again, their slumbers are disturbed - this time on Auntie Wu's watch!
What is this place!
Why is it so difficult to rest between Shrines within the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path!?
vs
(low-light vision)
Her party asleep around her, Auntie Wu spots it coming over the peaceful lake they have chosen to rest beside!
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
BONES ON WINGS
Monster ID: Religion (20)
Rest?: Full HP / FP, but not Full Rested since bedding down
Wake Up Ally (◆) You can kick your adjacent ally who gets a Pereption vs DC 20 to wake up - and may immediately act if their initiaitve has already passed (to speed it up, you may roll for them)
Round Two (◇) If you are still asleep at the start of your round two turn, you may attempt to wake up as a free action at the start of your turn (DC 20, same)
Auntie Wu
Kazuki @ Asleep, prone, unarmored, unarmed
Vekka @ Asleep, prone, unarmored, unarmed
Winged Skeleton
Sigurd @ Asleep, prone, unarmored, unarmed
Lan @ Asleep, prone, unarmored, unarmed
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
a Harpy Skeleton!
Shriek [two-actions] (auditory, concentrate, emotion, fear, mental) The harpy skeleton emits an unearthly, bone-chilling scream that deals 4d10 mental damage to all creatures in a 30-foot cone (DC 28 basic Will save). A creature that fails its save is frightened 1 (or frightened 2 on a critical failure). The harpy skeleton can't Shriek again for 1d4 rounds.
CS?
Open the first "Defense" spoiler too.
a Harpy Skeleton!
Resistances: cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5, piercing 5, slashing 5
CS?
Open the first "Offense" spoiler too.
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Vekka wakes up with a start, fully disoriented for not being his intended wake time in the morning.
Two nights in a row we are disturbed... wait, is this the same night?
He stands up and looks around to gain his bearings.
and quickly spots the strange, winged skeleton.
Another one that I hope burns easily!
"...Again?"
...Auntie Wu wakes everyone up...
...except Lan of course, who continues to snore heavily and dream of riding his unicorn through the tea shop sampling all the dumplings, again...
...Vekka's fire blast goes wide...
"Aww. C'mon! Really!?!" he moans upon being woken up again.
He grabs his bow, stands up groggily, and fires an arrow at the flying creature.
"How can it fly with such bony wings? Oh, that's right. We're in a dream realm." he says, rolling his eyes.
*pew*
SHUNK! Kazuki's arrow strikes true.
The boney thing flies over and lets out a terrible scream!
Boney
◆) Fly
◆◆) Shriek
vs
The Shriek wakes Lan immediately, and...
"GAH!!! That huuuuurt!"
Kazuki's head feels as if it was split in half after the ear-piercing shriek. Regaining his senses, he marks the creature as his prey and lets the arrows fly...
""
Worst. Night. Ever.
Not more screams...
He doens't feel the need to close the distance just yet, so he tries his aim again with another bolt of fire.
Something is off about his aim after waking up for the second time this night.
Regardless, he takes the residual energy into this blade.
What a horrific scream. The rain's fatigue isn't helping, either. His resolve is shaken.
Sigurd stands up. "Even without the sun, Shizuru calls upon her Lunar love to break the shackles of undeath."
He casts >Vitality Lash< on the skeleton, dealing
Two of Kazuki's arrows strike true.
Vekka's magic fails, but Lan and Sigurd double-lance it!
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
BONES ON WINGS
Monster ID: Religion (20)
Rest?: Full HP / FP, but not Full Rested since bedding down
R1
Winged Skeleton @ -39 (bloodied)
Sigurd @ unarmored, unarmed @ -32
Lan @ prone, unarmored, unarmed @ -6
R2
Auntie Wu @ -32
Kazuki @ unarmored @ -6
Vekka @ unarmored, unarmed
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Two of Kazuki's arrows strike true.
Winged Skeleton @ -56 (bloodied)
Auntie Wu's vital groin "punch" takes the creature out.
The party, again, rests a moment, taking stock.
And, commited now to getting even better rest, risk the rest of the night, hoping desperately to awake in the morning refreshed...
Finally, they make it though the long night, and awake to feel...
DC 20
...terrible!
The grogginess is so overwhelming, that Kazuki and Vekka succumb to the same fate as Sigurd, who feels no better, and although they could have swore that an entire night's worth of time passed, they realize the sun has slowed it's movement across the globe, as it still seems to be the very middle of the afternoon!
Too tired to commit new Daily Preparations, our Wall-of-Ghost-crossing party has no choice but to press on to the Mountain Shrine - maybe respite may be sought there!?
To understand why the party is unable to rest, they put their heads together to understand what foul magic prevents them from acting according to their own will!
Yami casually collects one bone from the winged creature, and keeps it for herself...
...she too wonders about the sun's movements in this realm...
..."I think it's because we are already dead!" she adds her scholarly opinion to the discussion.
"Hmm..." Sigurd awakens, but his cannot concentrate. Why is the sun still here?"[/b]
"We have no choice but to press ahead."
While the party ponders their plight, they press on...
The rain returns in force!
A full-blown Electrical Thunderstorm buzzes and cracks as the sun - now moving at it's expected pace over the horizon - begins to set over the horizon...
But despite these difficulties, the party reaches the Mountain Shrine!
Lots of spell slots spent, but full HPs / FPs, and:
Auntie Wu
Ho Lan
Sigurd Kolphan @ Fatigued!
Kazuki Sato @ Fatigued!
Vekka Tchakon @ Fatigued!
Fatigue
You're tired and can't summon much energy. You take a –1 status penalty to AC and saving throws. You can't use exploration activities performed while traveling, such as those on pages 438–439. You recover from fatigue after a full night's rest.
A waterfall 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.
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.
The Shrine
With multiple ways to get there, the Mountain Shrine sits comfortably at Area D3g, overlooking the impressive view of the valley.
A Cave
Next to the Mountain Shrine, at Area D3f, is a mysterious cave.
Cliff Face
One way up would be to climb the sheer Cliff Face - about 50 feet - perhaps by crossing the Bridge at D3a that crosses over where the water from the Waterfall is deposited, and going straight up. But such a Climb would challenge even an expert climber - even if there wasn't currently an Electrical Storm happening!
Steps Up
Large, uneven, hand-made stone steps otherwise lead the way up at Area D3b, ascending nearly to the top were it not for a Small Lake that bars passage directly into the Mountain Shrine - it's water pulling into a Waterfall that topples down at least 50 feet back to the bottom of the Cliff Face.
Small Lake and Waterfall
A rope system roots to either side of this Small Lake - spanning Area D3c to D3e - and below the bank closest to you floats a Raft (tethered by a seperate rope to anchor it to this side) - such that with a simple but trained athletic maneuver , one could feasibly use the rope to pull the Raft across the Small Lake without succumbing to the current that pulls the water over the Waterfall.
Yami looks at the closest PC "I do not want to get wet!"
Kazuki huddles with his friends to put their minds together and figure out what's going on in this strange land...
"This is Kugaptee's realm, obviously, but what is it? A dreamland? One of the Nine Hells? Where are we?"
----------------------------
"Wowww. This place must be beautiful in clear daylight."
Yami looks at the closest PC "I do not want to get wet!"
"Then stay out of the rain!" Kazuki shouts over a roll of distant thunder.
"Yes, it must be beautiful in the sun." Sigurd mumbles as the thunderclouds bear down on him. "Why are we all so tired?"
He looks about. "I could swim and let us cross using the raft. If Kugaptee's minions are protecting this area, we should try using some kind of side access."
Bleary-eyed, Vekka scratches the feathers atop his head as they get up to break camp.
What is going on here...?
--------------------
Then you might have to wait at the bottom here for us! I see a lot of water around! Vekka quips at Yami.
He doesn't have a better idea than Sigurd right now.
Side access. Sounds right.
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"I do not want to get wet!"
"None of us do, bone-picker," Auntie Wu nearly snaps at Yami, venting her misery on this awful creature. I only tolerate you because you're useful, but only barely.
"I could swim and let us cross using the raft. If Kugaptee's minions are protecting this area, we should try using some kind of side access."
"It's probably wise to assume every path is trapped or has at least one ambush awaiting us. Are you up for that, as fatigued as you are?"
"It looks like the stone stairway is the direct path there. I suggest we take that route."
vs DC 20 to find out why we can't rest.
---
Expert Religion vs waterfalls
"I have heard the stories: 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."
Lan votes for the stairs, and then a ritual wash, to contemplate life as something to be enjoyed as they bathe in a pond during an electrical storm.
"The gods sure are testing us by wanting us to ritually bathe in a lake during a lightning storm."
Sigurd's eyes are open with wonder. How did Lan learn that? Why didn't Sigurd know? He tries to hide his shame.
"A ritual cleansing? A wonderful idea, Lan. Storms pass and go, but the gods above are always watching us."
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"Even so, it would be wise to bathe in shifts, so one lightening strike doesn't kill all of us. Also, I'm concerned that Kugaptee may have tainted the waters with unholiness. When we get closer, we should inspect it before entering." Auntie Wu cautions.
"But which way to get up there..." She muses, worry lines creasing her forehead. "<sigh> There's no safe option. Let's take the stairs, but watch carefully for traps and ambushes along the way. I get the feeling we'll learn more about what's going on here if we stick to the normal path. It's probably been tampered with more than the surrounding area."
And so, deciding against the sheer cliffs, the party make their way trepidatiously up the steps…
Iogaka watches from afar - awaiting them to get about halfway crossing the lake!
She cackles discretely to herself...
Standing before the lake, and looking across at the shrine and cave (eerily quiet in the electrical storm), then looking at the ropes and the Raft, the party decide how to cross...
Drive the Boat
◆, ◆◆, or ◆◆◆ and ✋✋ DC 14 Athletics or DC 12 Sailing Lore
◆) On a success, the vehicle moves up to its Speed [10 feet] and can turn normally. On a failure, the vehicle moves its Speed in a straight line. On a critical failure, the vehicle moves its Speed in a straight line and becomes Uncontrolled.
◆◆) The vehicle recklessly moves up to twice its Speed [20 feet] in a straight line at the vehicle’s current heading.
◆◆◆) You take a –5 penalty on your piloting check to maintain control of the vehicle. The vehicle recklessly moves up to three times its Speed [30 feet] in a straight line at the vehicle’s current heading.
Rope the Boat
◆◆ and Athletics DC 15 ✋✋ (or 25 ✋)
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
Sigurd sheathes his sword and stows his shield. "I can man the oars."
"How many of you are athletic? If four of us, we can divide into pairs easily. Otherwise I can remain on Drive duty and make multiple trips."
"Why row across?" Kazuki asks Sigurd.
I think we should rope the raft to the lines that go across. It will help keep the raft more steady and I sure don't want to go over that waterfall. It looks like there's room for only a few of us to go across. I suggest we make just two trips. Three at first, then the last two. I'm willing to stay in the raft and guide it for both trips."
Vekka looks left and right, tracing the edges of the lake with his gaze.
There must be a way around...
roll4initiative
Auntie Wu
