"Oh, calm down." Liraela says calmly, before taking another stab at it. "No need to be so dramatic, save that for after we survive and escape this."
Henrika stares in disbelief, then turns her sword around and stabs down at the wig with it. "Peace, hair! Now you are going to pay," she says with a sarcastic lilt to her voice.
Round 2
Tychus takes aim and hits the ooze with his crossbow. The tangle of hair absorbs some of the blow but he’s sure he still wounded it.
Icabhod steps off the hair and whacks it with his club. The hair flattens under the hit but springs back up unharmed.
Xallis’ magical dog appears through a portal and tries to catch the hair in its jaws, but the hair is too fast.
Then Henrika cuts with her longsword. The animate hair is vulnerable to slashing weapons and she cuts straight through it. Tangled hair flies in every direction and is still.
"Well!" An out-of-breath Trevor stated. "Considering the last 48 hours, that was the most asinine foe I've faced."
"Thankfully it wasn't like a helm or something."
You detach the remains of the ooze from the magical wig. The wig of disguise is now safe to use.
Although unerved, those who still need rest finish their sleep. Icabhod, Liraela, and Xallis are now fully rested and have all their spells back.
Calistril 24, 4718 (Starday)
You wake up in the morning and make your preparations to depart and continue to explore for an exit.
You notice that Malphene takes a long time in the bathroom getting ready. Afterwards, you find an empty container of mulibrous tincture left in the room, an alchemical remedy designed to reduce masculine features and develop feminine ones. She says nothing about it.
Its up to you all if you want to eat breakfast or not.
Once you are ready, there is only one way forward. All of the north-facing doors connect to the same long hallway.
Several large doors line this 200-foot-long hallway. A large, metal door to the north is covered with chalk circles and mathematical notes.
Henrika looks up. "That could have been a close shave," she says seriously in response to Trevor's statement. "Fortunately, my methods are more barber-ic. Just a bit off the top!" She chuckles quietly to herself.
As everyone assembles after resting, she shrugs. "We should eat, for who knows when we will be able to stop and take another meal together. Why, this is almost civilized, camping here in these safe quarters!"
Tychus glumly eats a sparse meal before they head back out, clearly unhappy at the lack of fresh produce. His irritability is further increased by the appearance of more mysterious circles and writing.
"Knowing is half the battle. I feel like I'm walking around with one arm tied behind my back..."
Calistril 24, 4718 (Starday)
You wake up in the morning and make your preparations to depart and continue to explore for an exit.
You notice that Malphene takes a long time in the bathroom getting ready. Afterwards, you find an empty container of mulibrous tincture left in the room, an alchemical remedy designed to reduce masculine features and develop feminine ones. She says nothing about it.
The caydenite become the bigger man and uses the sustaining spoon to make his breakfast, making sure to pour some caydenite created wine in for some flavor. Normally, Trevor would use his four-color bowl to divine where Cayden wanted him to serve today. The cleric blinks, knowing right now; Trevor is where he needs to be.
Trevor waits for the more martial of his coterie to decide their next move. The Kastner noble nods a greeting to Dame Trant.
Icabhod sleeps fitfully, the attack of the killer hair gives him bad dreams and he is rather grumpy when he wakes.
Let us go east to the very end.
"Whoever this Senator Voratis guys was, he definitely knew how to furnish a safe room." Liraela says, uncoiling herself out of the ball she slept in after a perfectly peaceful night of rest. Growing up sleeping literally on the streets would teach you to squeeze every last drop out of any rest you can get your hands on.
"Shall we, then?" she asks the group, full of energy after eating whatever food was available.
Xallis awakens, feeling mercifully refreshed from his sleep. Not wanting to waste time, he decides to summon Navia first thing. He heads off into a side room for the summoning ritual figuring he wouldn't want to put on such a display to his more squeamish allies before breakfast.
Afterwards, he addresses her early complaints about 'brain wriggling' with an examination and a through scalp massage. Navia seems to appreciate it greatly. In fact, the massage runs so deep that it's almost as if his hands plunge into her skull. But that couldn't be right; Not a single drop of blood clings to his fingers, and Navia's cat-in-a-sunbeam expression never seems to register any discomfort.
Regardless, Xallis eventually joins the others for his share of a magically delicious meal before immedietly getting ready to get back on the go. The sooner they can get back to their families, the better.
Let us go east to the very end.
"Fair enough." the summoner says, directing Navia to go that way. "That's a good a place to start as any. I'll admit... after last night's events, I'm curious to see what other forms of creatures we'll encounter here."
"Fair enough." the summoner says, directing Navia to go that way. "That's a good a place to start as any. I'll admit... after last night's events, I'm curious to see what other forms of creatures we'll encounter here."
Trevor gives Xallis a sideway glance. "That WOULD be something a summoner would say..."
You take the eastern passage and open the door at the end of the hall.
Thick wooden bookshelves jut out from the eastern and western walls. Bundles of paper, scroll tubes, and thick tomes cram these shelves nearly to bursting. Layers of dust coat some areas of the chamber, but others remain suspiciously clean. Books and papers crowd one of the worktables in the corners, smeared with ink. Two doors exit to the south.
You take some time to search the room. You find that it stores senate minutes, census reports, and textbooks. Donations from various aristocrats likewise ended up stored here—mostly self-aggrandizing journals, genealogies, and autobiographies. Some of the moldering books appear to have been nibbled on my vermin but are mostly intact.
On a table in the southwest corner, books are scattered across the surface. These are mostly mathematics and geometry texts.
Xallis finds one book on the table that is not mathematical in nature. It is the autobiography of Eros Glendower, a romantic, middling nobleman, and wizard who lived centuries ago and became obsessed with immortality.
On one of the shelves, you find an intact scroll case.
After the incident with the wig, you give the scroll case a thorough examination before fully opening it. Peeking inside you see there are four magical scrolls inside. Icabhod also spots a scroll-like creature waiting in ambush. The creature will need to be released and dealt with before you can identify the scrolls.
•A guardian scroll’s type is construct.
•Guardian scrolls are deceptive constructs created from enchanted paper or papyrus, designed to protect the lairs, libraries, and sacred texts of magical practitioners. At rest, guardian scrolls appear identical to any number of different types of magical or non-magical scrolls. When a guardian scroll becomes active, it rises in the air and unfurls to a length of almost 4 feet. It wafts through the air with casual ease as it approaches its target.
When it attacks, it stiffens its edges, making them blade-sharp. It races past its target and draws its entire length across any exposed flesh, leaving a long, deep, and painful slash that bleeds badly afterward. This is not the scroll’s only means of attack, however. It can also wrap itself around a creature in the blink of an eye, constricting it.
•As an intelligent construct, a guardian scroll is subject to mind-affecting effects.
•It is vulnerable to fire and magic weapons.
•It is immune to bludgeoning, crushing, and falling damage.
•Guardian scrolls understand Common but can’t speak.
•Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms).
•Immunity to bleed, disease, death effects, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning.
•Not subject to ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, energy drain, or nonlethal damage.
•Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless).
Xallis relays what information he can to his allies. Which turns out to be fairly extensive. "I think Father was looking into geting something like this. Mother denied it, though. She always did hate the idea of unliving servants."
He signs in resignation at the prospect of destroying such a fascinating creature, but Navia seems excited at the challenge.
Liraela seems to be of one mind with Xallis in terms of not wanting to destroy the living scroll creature.
”Is it safely locked away? I don’t see the need to destroy it if we don’t have to. Could be useful another time, if we can befriend or control it.”
I hardly think we could befriend a flying sheet of paper.
"It's certainly worth a shot if we can use it to our advantage, though, no? We don't exactly have the luxury of denying ourselves any resources, given our situation." she replies.
Trevor couldn't help but grin at Liraela's cunning. "It's hard to argue the logic of her argument, Icabhod."
Does Xallis think there’s a way to get it to behave, and maybe even follow our orders? Maybe a control device somewhere in the room?
Xallis can tell you that they can be given orders but this one will likely be following the orders of whoever created or last owned it. There is no control device. Since it's in a scroll tube, if you want to weaponize it, you could throw it into a room with an enemy and see what happens.
"Based on what you said, Xallis, won't this... creature?... just follow its last orders until its destruction? Don't these things only obey their creators or something? From my limited knowledge, I see little way around the inevitable..."
The summoner considers. "Well, if it's prone to attacking, perhaps we could use it in the same way one might apply an alchemist's fire? If need me, I could even have Navia personally deliver it to a potential foe, unleash the construct, and then recall her to her come plane."
"Aww. Then you're keeping me out of two fights." Navia pouts. Then then she smiles. "I bet we can kil lthis thing now, and not have to worry about your little Paper Bomb backfiring. What if it only goes after living things, and we have to fight another construct?"
Xallis purses his lips in consideration. "She does have a point. Unless we can find some means of reliably controlling this, there is an element of unpredictability. Which would you all prefer, fight it or use it?"
Lord Botoles speaks up. "While I appreciate your concern over that creature, let's not overlook this research table. Why is this one autobiography among all these geometry texts? Could this wizard Eros Glendower have achieved immortality and is haunting these halls? No offense, but I don't think we're prepared for a wizard that powerful. Although, if someone were doing research, they likely wouldn't need to read about themselves. Perhaps someone was trying to follow in Glendower's footsteps. I'm no wizard, but I don't think this text contains any arcane rituals. Its written like any other pompous noble's autobiography would be: mostly self-aggrandizing his lineage and titles; talk about how he unlocked the mysteries of magic at a young age and his appointment into the senate. Hmm...this is interesting. He hints about a patron organization backing him, but it doesn't appear to be named anywhere in here. The autobiography ends before saying if he achieved immortality or not."
The summoner considers. "Well, if it's prone to attacking, perhaps we could use it in the same way one might apply an alchemist's fire? If need me, I could even have Navia personally deliver it to a potential foe, unleash the construct, and then recall her to her come plane."
"Aww. Then you're keeping me out of two fights." Navia pouts. Then then she smiles. "I bet we can kil lthis thing now, and not have to worry about your little Paper Bomb backfiring. What if it only goes after living things, and we have to fight another construct?"
Xallis purses his lips in consideration. "She does have a point. Unless we can find some means of reliably controlling this, there is an element of unpredictability. Which would you all prefer, fight it or use it?"
"I prefer to not leave things up to chance. My vote is we destroy it, or leave it behind for someone else to deal with."
Lord Botoles speaks up. "While I appreciate your concern over that creature, let's not overlook this research table. Why is this one autobiography among all these geometry texts? Could this wizard Eros Glendower have achieved immortality and is haunting these halls? No offense, but I don't think we're prepared for a wizard that powerful. Although, if someone were doing research, they likely wouldn't need to read about themselves. Perhaps someone was trying to follow in Glendower's footsteps. I'm no wizard, but I don't think this text contains any arcane rituals. Its written like any other pompous noble's autobiography would be: mostly self-aggrandizing his lineage and titles; talk about how he unlocked the mysteries of magic at a young age and his appointment into the senate. Hmm...this is interesting. He hints about a patron organization backing him, but it doesn't appear to be named anywhere in here. The autobiography ends before saying if he achieved immortality or not."
"Whoever was using this space is probably also responsible for the circles we've been finding everywhere. And I'm not a fan of this mention of a mysterious organization..."
Is there any use in further investigating the books on the table.
I agree on destroying the creature. The scrolls inside are resources we can use to escape this place.
Trevor, looks at the investigator and his debate prowess, nods approvingly. "Icabhod does have a point, Liraela."
You usher the nobles safely out of the way and then you open the scroll case and release the guardian scroll. The scroll flits out of the case with serpentine grace baring razor-sharp edges.
Round 1
Initiative
21 - Icabhod
18 - Liraela
18 - Henrika
13 - Guardian Scroll
13 - Xallis
13 - Navia (Mage Armor 110 min.)
10 - Tychus
03 - Trevor
Icabhod, Liraela, and Henrika start.
"I wish we could find a way to control it, but I guess you're right. Better to be safe than sorry."
Liraela will prepare a cutting slash with her dagger on the scroll as soon as it pops out of the tube.
Icabhod slashes with his rapier
Henrika makes a huffing noise, as if psyching herself up to fight a piece of paper. When it emerges, she swipes at it with her sword.
Round 1
Icabhod strikes first. He hits the scroll with his rapier, pushing into its surface, but then it springs back into shape, unharmed.
Liraela’s dagger, on the other hand, easily cuts through the paper and she cuts a long slash down its center.
Henrika follows next. She also hits the scroll but what should have been a deeper cut is reduced to a minor scratch.
The scroll darts towards towards Liraela. She slashes it again but it keeps on coming. The scroll inflicts a paper-cut to an artery on her neck causing blood to spurt outward. Then the scroll wraps its body tightly around Liraela’s head, blinding and suffocating her.
When the character fails one of these Constitution checks, she begins to suffocate. In the first round, she falls unconscious (0 hit points). In the following round, she drops to –1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, she suffocates.
Round 1
Initiative
21 - Icabhod
18 – Liraela (11/18 hp) (1d2 bleed) (Grappled, Blinded, Holding Breath [28 rds]; AC 12)
18 - Henrika
13 - Guardian Scroll (19 damage, grappling [-2 AC])
13 – Xallis
13 – Navia (Mage Armor 110 min.)
10 – Tychus
03 – Trevor
Round 2
Initiative
21 – Icabhod
18 – Liraela (11/18 hp) (1d2 bleed) (Grappled, Blinded, Holding Breath [28 rds]; AC 12)
18 – Henrika
Xallis, Tychus, and Trevor go.
Then back to Icabhod, Liraela, and Henrika.
Round 1
"Quick! We must get that scroll off of Liraela, or she'll bleed to death!" Trevor exclaims.
The cleric is going to try to remove the scroll from the mesmerist's face.
Seeing his ally trapped by the creature, Tychus rushes to her aid, afraid of injuring her with his usual method of dispatching foes.
"Get off of her!"
Seeing as how Tychus doesn't have good CMB, he'd attempt to aid someone else trying to grapple it off. Since Tychus goes before Trevor, can we consider him aiding Trevor?
"Ohhhh no no no no..." Xallis stammers a bit as the animate paper begins squeezing the life out of Lireala. He conjures up a spell that should be familiar to the group, creating a thin layer of oily sludge over the top half of the rogue's body.
Meanwhile, Navia rushes forward and does her best to help pry it off.
Icabhod moves up to aid getting the thing off
Round 1
Xallis butters Liraela up and Navia grabs her to help pull her free. Tychus and Trevor grab onto the scroll to pull from the other end. Then Icabhod joins in too.
Round 2
With everyone’s help, Liraela easily slips free and gasps, sucking in a big breath of air. Her wound continues to bleed. The scroll now squirms in Trevor’s hands.
Henrika moves closer and tries to hit the scroll, but it is flailing wildly and she misses.
The scroll breaks free of Trevor’s grasp and floats angrily in front of him.
Round 2
Initiative
21 - Icabhod
18 – Liraela (10/18 hp) (1d2 bleed)
18 - Henrika
13 - Guardian Scroll (19 damage)
13 – Xallis
13 – Navia (Mage Armor 110 min.)
10 – Tychus
03 – Trevor
Round 3
Initiative
21 – Icabhod
18 – Liraela (10/18 hp) (1d2 bleed)
18 – Henrika
Everyone goes.
Finally pulling off the scroll, Liraela is very very angry at this stupid scroll. So many things want to try to smother her, apparently. She'll try to slice at it again.
Liraela slices the scroll in half and it flutters lifelessly to the ground.
Now that the guardian scroll is dealt with, Tychus removes the other scrolls from the case and uses read magic to identify them. They are:
Scroll of Dispel Magic
Scroll of Invisibility
Scroll of Mirror Image
Scroll of Mount
"Well that wasn't very enjoyable. I'd prefer someone with some healing expertise come take a look at this, if you wouldn't mind." Liraela says, touching the surprisingly deep wounds on her face.
"That invisibility scroll would be quite nice, but I am not sure I could use it effectively. If someone who can could hold onto it and use it for me when I need it, I'd be real appreciative."
"Well that wasn't very enjoyable. I'd prefer someone with some healing expertise come take a look at this, if you wouldn't mind." Liraela says, touching the surprisingly deep wounds on her face.
"Nicely done, Liraela", Trevor complemented. "You gave as well as you've gotten, I'm afraid. Hold still, let me look at it."
The firm but gentle fingers of the cleric examine the rogue's face and the area around the wound. "Hmm. Luckily, we're addressing this right away. If done properly, we should not see any scarring. Granted the scar would make a nice story, but the distraction from your beauty would not be worth it, in my humble opinion."
Trevor holds his holy symbol, and casts cure light wounds on the Vishkanya's face.
"Here." Trevor looks into the sky. "Thanks, Boss."
"I, for one, agree with our anointed fellow. As dangerous as things are, we may not want to start collecting battle scars just yet."
Xallis then ponders the recent haul. "Each of those scrolls are within my capacity to cast, save for the defensive illusion. I'd be happy to make use of the invisibility scroll at any time of your request, Miss Liraela."
Already excited about the next discovery, Navia's checking the next door. "We about ready to go?" she says, flexing her talons.
I have no skill with those scrolls, unfortunately.
Navia's perception + scent: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
The next room is silent and smells like more books. You open the door and go inside.
Towering rows of bookshelves fill the center of this chamber, separated only by a low shelf and countertop running the room’s length. A single door exits to the south.
You spend a few minutes exploring and browsing the shelves. Many rare or obscure books are stored here. Many tomes are immense dissertation on the flora, fauna, and history of Taldor. Chronicles from various Armies of Exploration to those on the political makeup of the senate in each decade are all on display within the immense archives.
You try picking up one or two of interest but due to their age, the books here crumble when opened.
But then you pick up one more book and instead of crumbling, it sprouts insectile legs. The book cover opens like a mouth. Sharp teeth ring the tome’s edge and a ribbon bookmark protrudes from the open pages. You drop the book in surprise. Then half a dozen more similar creature begin to wake around the room.
However, instead of attacking, they act more like puppies. They scamper up to you, panting, and their tongues lolling out of their mouths. If you turn or step away, they follow your movements seemingly eagerly awaiting something from you.
Malphene shouts and waves her sword in the direction of the nearest one. "What are these things? What do they want?"
The creature's 'head' opens flat like a book to a blank page and the words "What are these things? What do they want?" slowly transcribe onto it is if written by an invisible quill.
•A gishvit’s type is outsider (extraplanar, lawful).
•Sometimes referred to as “lore roaches” by scholars familiar with the Outer Planes, gishvits are natural inhabitants of the lawful plane of Axis. Often associated with the native axiomites and scrivenites, gishvits occupy a mundane role on Axis, maintaining vast stores of knowledge within their booklike bodies. Transcribing knowledge from living creatures, a gishvit stores information in its body in the form of written text, preserving the acquired knowledge within itself. Because of this unique method of information gathering, gishvits are treasured by information brokers and spellcasters on the Material Plane.
•A gishvit can transfer the information within its pages to a single target through its grasping ribbon. It can force this information directly into a grabbed creature’s mind, overwhelming it with an onslaught of facts and recorded information.
•A gishvit is vulnerable to the erase spell. An erase spell deals damage to a gishvit and has a chance of removing all written text within its pages. A gishvit reduced to 0 hit points or below in this manner is slain, becoming a blank book.
•Gishvits understand all languages but can’t speak.
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Trevor chuckles to himself as the cleric, as brave as his deity, reaches down and attempts to pet one of the book monsters.
"Trevor Kastner was known throughout all of Golarion, for his 10-inch p3nis." The cleric laughed.
Trevor's words appear on a page in the book. The book lets Trevor pet it and bounces up and down eager for more.
Tychus looks around with discomfort at the dog-like books. He tries to gently nudge them away from him with his foot, not wanting to hurt them but clearly not wanting them near him. He opens his mouth to speak, but upon seeing the words of the others inscribed into the pages, clenches his mouth shut. He continues to investigate the room in solemn silence.
Tychus tries to read one of the gishvits. It snaps shut hard on his fingers and drops to the floor. Then it issues a low growl. Their desire to transfer information goes only one way. (From you to them.)