Violant, the literal Alsetan, speaks up in response to Stom's question. "It's Alseta's Ring. It's a network of portals, known as elf-gates, aiudara in Elven, that connect various locations on Golarion via a teleportation network," she says, clutching the relevant holy symbol on her necklace. "Alseta, the Goddess I'm devoted to, is one of transitions of all kinds, doors, and teleportation. That's why it's called such, as it's a teleportation network. As you could imagine... people have gone looking for the elf-gates in the network, in the past," she sighs, before continuing in a derisive tone, "to form a profit."
Carefully opening the other door, you find what look like Voz's personal quarters. An un tidy living space, the bed is unmade, a modest chest of drawers has been ransacked, the wardrobe is missing half its contents and a small desk in the corner is covered with miscellaneous personal effects such as archivists gloves, dented reading glasses and several alarmingly large balls of lint.
Oppa's perceptive eyes find a false bottom in the wardrobe revealing a number of scrolls.
Scrolls of Acid Arrow, False Life, Obscuring Mist and Touch of Idiocy.
Additionally next to her book is a small nightstand and a book titled [u]Breachill, Outpost of Liberty[/u], a number of loose sheafs of paper with notes written on them additionally it looks like Voz has written more notes in the margins and edges of many individual pages of the book.
That he did so out of a sense of guilt, though, Voz got right—her notes here include commentary like, “Fool should have just left them to die—guilt gets you nothing!” The research also indicates that Voz has hit nothing but dead ends in trying to find out what happened to Lamond Breachton after he left the area—she suspects he is long dead, though.
The professor first looks over the scrolls, seeing which would be useful to who. When she sees a scroll of Acid Arrow, her eyes immediately alight with utter glee and giddy. "I haven't seen a scroll of proper Acid Arrow in ages! Once I gather the resources to copy this spell into my spellbook, it will be very useful," she says, practically bouncing in-place with excitement at the out-of-fashion spell. She takes the scroll and puts it into her pack, before perusing the rest of the scrolls, "Does anyone else want to copy any of these?"
After her manic state, she looks more and more distraught as she reads Voz's research. "Failed experiment...? Servants?! I know I'm not from here, but that is not how Breachton is viewed, right? "
Stom nods as Violant describes Alseta's Ring to him. "Ah, this is helpful information. Why would a bookkeeper be so interested in these gates?" Stom grunts. "Money may be the motivation!"
As Oppa and Violant inspect the scrolls, Stom turns his attention to the other papers. "The scrolls are yours. I prefer more straightforward approaches."
He reads the same papers and notes as Violant. "I don't believe I've heard of this Breachton fellow before. Sounds like magic got to his head!"
Stom finishes his glance at the notes and asks the groups. "Are any of you from Breachill? I don't know much of the town's history. Is this failed experiment a well-known part of its history?"
"According to what most townsfolk say, Lamond Breachton is a benevolent adventuring wizard that they owe the town's existence to. It comes close to one's reverence for gods, so harsh words are... basically taken as a challenge to a resident's honor," she says timidly.
Gathering your evidence, and giving the place one more search over but finding little else of import, your group heads back to the Wizard's Grace to regroup and plan the next day's activities.
While sitting in the common room, Trini Uskwold, the owner of the Wizard's Grace addresses your group, gesturing to a large table in the center of the room for you all to sit at, "Ahh our young heroes, so quickly you stopped Calmont! Please tell us all the story of how you defeated the young ruffian! To think he could be so deviously evil, I never liked him from the moment he came to town!" She brings you all out flagons of beer with Boar Meat and Lentil stew.
Many of the other townsfolk are present and all raise flagons of beer cheering, "Aye good work!" "Hear hear! Heroes in the making!"
Samael you notice your stew has a few extra helpings of boar's meat in it, and spy Ginger looking at you from the Kitchen, she is no doubt shirking her duties in an attempt to listen to you all tell of your exploits in the castle.
Winking at Ginger, Samael gets up on the table and begins to narrate the tale of how we captured Calmont. He includes the fight with the biggest goblin, ever, some spiders from Mars, a Dragon, and Calmont
He points to each of his allies, while telling that Lyra healed us, Oppa and Doxie confronted the dangers, Violent burned our enemies, and how he got to open doors and locks.
With a flourish he ends with how they saved some of the Bramblebrashers and brought Calmont back for justice.
Oppa took Sorcerer Free Archtype (Sovereign Wyrmblessed).
I tougher and better at biting and clawing.
Violant merely sits, studying the objects they brought back from the day, trying to identify them. Once she does identify them successfully, she shares the results with the rest of the adventuring party. She occasionally takes a sip of an ordered juice along with nibbles of boar meat, a little too focused in her work to notice the passing of time around her.
"Oh! I just found this," she says after identifying the objects, pulling out a few-year-old small tome in her handwriting, containing a few precise alchemical formulae of bombs and their relation to certain spells, be they new or old. "If anyone has the materials and would like me to supply you with alchemical weapons, I have a few formulae in the book that I recently rediscovered." If you stare closely at her, you could swear sometimes she moves faster or slower than you expect her to, and sometimes she just outright flickers, but she doesn't seem disturbed by anything at all. "I thought I lost this! This was when I was investigating a link between the components in a magical spell and components in an alchemical analogue, be it bomb or elixir. Sadly no gunpowder formulae in here, that one's already been thoroughly documented," she says with a wry smile.
Lyra rocks back on the back legs of her chair while enjoying a bowl of stew and a mug of the house ale. Listening and nodding along as Samael recounts the days adventures to the awe of the townsfolk.
When he mentions the healing Lyra did she touches her holy symbol and pipes up "Ullkrakisk Shuullkr-aa, our Lady Firesword, I was but a channel for her might"
It is a consumable talisman called a Predator's Claw;
Activate [free-action]
Trigger: You critically succeed at an attack roll with the affixed weapon.
This claw set in an iron clasp and chain is usually that of a large predator. When you activate the claw, the triggering attack gains the weapon's critical specialization effect.
These are Charlatan's Gloves , they grant a +1 bonus to thievery checks and you can cast telekinetic hand(mage hand) as an innate spell
Samael gives a rousing, inspiring, performative demonstration of the parties foray into Castle, a daring rescue, a battle with a dragon. The villagers cheer, spilling mugs at your success, gasp in fear as you describe the harrowing injuries. Ginger nearly faints as you heroically recall all the grievous wounds you sustained.
Meanwhile, consumed in her research, Violant is busy identifying the parties loot from the day.
Lyra, Oppa and Doxie enjoy hte food and festivities of a job well done.
One of the villagers asks, "Whats next? Is there still more to do at the castle or is your job done having saved the goblins?"
After a round or two of ale, Stom feels emboldened enough to introduce himself to Trini. He regales her with a retelling of the terrible nightmares he has had as of late, and doesn't notice her attempts to turn her attention to other patrons.
"And, the worst part was seeing the entire city ablaze. In my dreams, it looked just like Breachill, even though I had never seen or heard of the city before. What do you make of that?"
Noticing Trini's unease, he abruptly leaves the bar area to find a table. "Anyways, the name is Stom. Glad to meet you."
He joins Lyra, Oppa, and Doxie as they work on cataloging the party's inventory. Stom eyes the silver longsword. "Ah, not the best silver but helpful in a pinch. Does anyone already have a claim for this sword? If not, the shield would be handy as well."
Stom hears a villager ask the party for updated plans. Thinking back on his interaction with Trini, along with his uncertainty about the plan, Stom keeping quiet.
"I'm unsure of the rest of them, but until I find more about Alseta's Ring," Violant says, clutching the relevant holy symbol around her neck, "I feel this is something I must do." She then looks around to find Samael, before saying, "These are Charlatan's Gloves. They help with skillful and dextrous manipulation. Something tells me you'd make the best use of them."
Violant then hands the Charlatan's Gloves to the Rogue, hoping he can make better use of them than she ever could. "And the flasks are mere holy water. We must have been... a bit too focused on the task at hand to notice, but it's plain and simple holy water." She then turns to Lyra, asking her a question. "You're a cleric of Sarenrae, yes? Perhaps you'll find a use for this," before handing her the flasks of holy water. "If there are devils, due to connection to the Hellknights, they'll come in handy."
After a sum of 2 hours spent in the tavern, she finally finishes penning the old spell into her spellbook, gleefully smiling like a kid in the candy store all the while.
"This," she says, holding up the talisman, "is a Predator's Claw. On successful activation, which is certainly hard to explain, it increases the effectiveness of the attached weapon."
Samael, will bow after recounting (and occasionally embellishing) their adventures so far.
To the assembled, he says, "I'm afraid there is more going on at the castle. And, we will have to deal with it. After a good night's rest, and selling some of what we found, and buying more supplies, we will be going back to the castle to begin to understand what has happened there."
++++++++++++++++
When he has a chance to speak to Greta, he will remind her of the rewards she spoke about. 10 gp for contacting the Bramblebrushers and 10 gp for Calmont.
+++++++++++++++++++
When there is time to look at our loot...
"Hey, this is a Predator's Claw"
"May I have the Charlatan's Gloves?"
+++++++++++++++
After the discussion with his allies, Samael will go over to talk to Ginger.
Hearing no objections, Stom adds the silver longsword and shield to his pack.
Satisfied that he is more prepared to help the group with their next challenge, Stom decides to retire for the evening before the ale goes to his head. He certainly doesn't want to be hungover in the morning. "Do any of you have a room at an inn in town? I'm no stranger to sleeping under the stars or in an alleyway. But, I'd prefer a roof over my head tonight."
Before departing for the Citadel in the morning, he takes a bit of time to arrange the sword on his belt and attach the shield to a shoulder so that he can still retrieve his primary weapon - his greataxe.
Clasping Stom on the shoulder, "Of course, heroes stay for free at the Wizard's Grace! Especially ones so accomplished as you!"
As the hours wane into the evening, festivities continue, celebrating your groups first successful day as intrepid heroes, a local bard comes and tells stories of previous Heroes Calls and the adventures that ensued. Promising one day to add you're story to the tale when its finished.
Ginger periodically flirts with Samael at the bar when she isn't being shooed away by Trini to continue her duties as Server/kitchen help/barmaid. Trini gives several dirty looks at Samael, clearly irritated he is distracting the help. But Ginger always finds her way back to Samael to continue their conversations.
Setting out in the morning, the five of you again make the relatively short walk to the Citadel, finding it much the same as you left it the day prior. The front entrance is still ajar, and the side door you took you see a Goblin poke his head out and motion to you all. Entering the area you first fought the Hobgoblin in the barracks, you find the rest of the Goblin tribe, their leader Helba steps up, "Ahh yes you'did return, the job be not finished yeah! Still those cultists in the basement that kicked us out of our home and a strange tall man in scary black pointy armor with a really really really big sword passed through the area not too long ago! He is just a few rooms over, he was scary so we did avoid him, yes! "
"Yes, holy water will definitely help and be of use eventually." Lyra takes the 2 flasks and adds them to her pack. She also agrees that going back to the castle and clearing out the basement is their next step.
A strange man in scary black armor? is he down in the basement too? I'm sure we can take care of it. lets head down there and see what we can do."
Thinking about what Helba said about the scary armor Lyra pipes up "It definitely sounds like it could be a full Hellknight. From what I can recall an individual knight becomes a full Hellknight after defeating a devil in combat. And each order of Hellknights gets their own destinctive armor." she pauses and looks out towards the middle distance. "I thought this Citadel was abandoned what would a Hellknight still be doing here?"
Helba piping up to Lyra's question, "Oh no, he is just a few rooms over, Dipper there was in the kitchen"She points at a scared looking Goblin hiding under the ratted blankets of a nearby bed, "and saw him come in through a big hole in the wall. Dipper found a bunch of tasty crunchy spiders in that old kitchen but he was so scared he dropped and stepped on all the spider crunchies!"
"A Hellknight..? What Hellknight Orders have been around here, does anyone know? How one deals with Hellknights should highly depend on their Order, as you wouldn't treat a member of the Order of the Torrent as a member of thr Order of the Rack or Pyre," she says with derision.
"They fight devils? Well, then they can't be all bad. Let's say we go and have a talk with him. Maybe he knows something?"
"Scary, black, and point armor does indeed some like Hellknights. Was it just the one person? Are they coming back to reclaim the citadel?"
Realizing he hasn't met these goblins before, Stom introduces himself. "Hello there, goblin friends. At least, I assume we are friends. I am Stom Flintheart. I only just arrive last night."
After brief introductions form the goblins, Stom pipes up again. "Which way did this armored man go? I don't know my way around here yet.
None of the goblins are willing to accompany you, but they are able to point out the room, its maybe 50 feet away from where you guys, and its a doorway your group passed by Yesterday.
Heading to the doorway in question, Stom taking the lead opens the door, and the room inside has flagstones painted entirely black, this sprawling and irregularly shaped room contains a circular, sunken arena in its middle. The arena’s edges are painted deep crimson, and an ominous crimson pentagram fills the center.
In the center of the Pentagram stands a handsome, dark-haired man in matte black armor wielding an heirloom greatsword, moving with confident and assured technique while engaged in combat against a snickering imp. You all arrive just in time to see this Hellknight kick down the Imp and drive his greatsword through the creature's heart. He makes eye contact with the group as three more imps drop down from the dark rafters above, "Great, more bloody hell monkeys to fight," He gestures with one hand toward the group with a set of of strategic battle positions.
Round 1 - Hell's Rodeo
Violant
Lyra
Red Imp
Blue Imp
Samael
Yellow Imp
Oppa/Doxie
Stom
Hellknight
Lyra strides into the room and raises her shield up in front of her. "QUIIILURTH" she yells as she bites into the imp in front of her.
Violant raises her shield and launches a magical bolt that ethereally streaks through obstacles in her way, piercing into the Blue Imp. It hurts it, but not as effectively as She would have thought.
Lyra strides into flanking with the Hellknight and tries to tusk the little imp but it just barely dodges her attack.
In return, the red imp will turn, cackling in its diabolic language it'll try and sting Lyra.
It hits with its first sting but the second is caught on Lyra's hide armor.
The Blue imp also cacklingly joyfully shapeshifts into a big red hairy boar and attacks the Hellknight.
You all see its wound close a little bit as well.
It huffs and chuffs but the Hellknight is easily able to hold the Hog-Imp at bay.
These are Imps, the lowest form of Devil that resides in Hell. They have a nasty stinger that drips with a poison that can make a person terribly clumsy. they have a few spells and tricks, such as shapeshifting and turning invisible. They are also able to make deals, like any devil, though the benefit hardly outweighs the risk--eternal damnation.
Round 1 - Hell's Rodeo
Violant
Lyra 5 damage
Red Imp
Blue Imp 4 damage
Samael
Yellow Imp
Oppa/Doxie
Stom
Hellknight
◆ Samael begins juggling two daggers.
◆ He moves to flank the Blue imp
◆ He damage.
The yellow imp flanks, laughing maniacally, the hellknight and lays into him with its stinger.
And it scores two vicious hits thanks to the flanking imp on the otherside! The hellknight cries out as the imps poison courses through him from the two hits.
But Hellknights are well trained against Imp Poison and he shrugs off their poison before swinging his greatsword in a vicious Power attack on the red imp he is flanking with Lyra.
And he completely cleaves the Red Imp in twain, showering Lyra in a spray of hot devil blood before he uses the momentum of hte strike to lead into the Blue warthog.
He looks to you all, "Use silver weapons if you have them, they are especially weak to Silver and Holy attacks"
Round 1 / 2 - Hell's Rodeo
Violant
Lyra 5 damage
Red Imp
Blue Imp 4 damage
Samael
Yellow Imp
Oppa/Doxie
Stom
Hellknight 9 damage
RK: Religion
◆ "Look out Doxie. These little Imps are nasty. They can change shape, and turn invisible... not to mention their poison stinger".
◆ Cast Protect companon
◆ Raise Shield
Violant, seeing how physical damage does little to the imp in front of her, decides to cast an energy spell. Given that hellfire is termed as such, she thinks while casting a modified Frostbite, it would be better to use some form of cold. An unerring ray of cold emanates from her finger as she points it at the boar-imp, hoping it hits its mark.
Hearing the hellknight's advice, Stom quickly stows his axe and pulls the silver longsword out of its sheath. Then, he moves into position to threaten the warthog and attempts to skew it.
As the second sting from the Imp hit Lyra she momentarily thinks it’s poison takes effect but she notices it just dripping off her Armour.
Wiping the blood from her face she reaches into her spell component pouch and pulls out a small piece of metal. She raises her hand and yells as she flings it forward. ”NULLISH CRAAALIFK” as it flies towards the blue board the metal shapes into 3 needle like darts.
Oppa sets up the battlefield, taking stock of the Imps weaknesses, shouting them out to his allies, while Violant blasts the blue warthog with a ray of icy coldness.
It suffers significantly from the damage, opening it up for Stom to walk up and deliver a killing blow with his Silver Longsword, the silver eliciting a smoking burn as he opens the Warthog. As it dies, it transforms back to an Imp, which lets out a few more wheezy laughs before dying.
Lyra altering her target at the last second, even with the cover form the Hellknight is able to blast the yellow imp with a face full of needles. It hurts, but it shrugs off some of the piercing damage.
Round 2 - Hell's Rodeo
Violant
Lyra 5 damage
Red Imp
Blue Imp 4 damage
Samael
Yellow Imp 5 damage
Oppa/Doxie
Stom
Hellknight 9 damage
* Continue juggling to add the second dagger
* damage.
* Juggle action to start juggling a playing card in addition to the dagger.
Samael dangerously juggling knives and playing cards flings one out, snapping into the remaining Yellow Imp, it sinks it its flesh, its devil blood hissing on the cobblestone beneath it.
The imp steps up to Samael to launch a stinger attack at him, its tip dripping with poison. Then follows up with a Stinger versus the menacing hellknight.
The imp is too mesmerized by Samael's juggling and fails to land a solid hit. The Hellknight weaves a defensive pattern with his greatsword, catching the tip of the Imp's Stinger and throw it off balance, missing him by a hairs breadth.
The Hellknight, encouraging you all to finish the Imp off, steps into flanking for Stom but continues to weave a defensive pattern with his Greatsword, while he watches how you all handle yourselves.
Round 2 / 3 - Hell's Rodeo
Violant
Lyra 5 damage
Samael
Yellow Imp 9 damage
Oppa/Doxie
Stom
Hellknight 9 damage
Violant repeats the same motions, knowing she has no means of attacking the imp with silver or holy weapons, hoping that repitition is the key to success here.
Lyra, reaches into her bag and grasps a vial of holy water. She throws it at the last remaining imp.
◆ Samael will use a juggle action to continue juggling
◆ Samael will attempt to Create a Diversion against the imp.
◆ Samael will then damage
Seeing the hellknight intentionally moving into a flanking position and holding their attack, Stom scowls at the imp. "Time to taste silver!" Stom thrusts the sword, aiming for the imps gut. Then, he slashes across its chest but the second attack only hits the air.
The Imp tries to resist the freezing effects of Violant's spell.
And it does so, taking minimal damage, its red firey hot hide absorbing most of the freezing effect.
Lyra's flask of holy water misses but splashes, burning the imp mightily, it howls as the Holy water burns its skin.
Finally, together with an opening from Stom's brutal attacks, Samael finds an opening and strikes a dagger into the back of the Imp where it falls dead to the floor!
The Hellknight frowns, swinging his greatsword down and decapitates the Imp, finishing off the other two Imps as well. "Can never be too sure, some devils are known to regenerate." Once done, he pulls out a length of black cloth from a pouch on his belt and wipes the gore from his sword. “I thank you for your assistance, by the way. I suspect you’re not looters—who are you then, if you please?”
Violant takes a breath, and pauses, making sure she actually speaks Taldane. She then barks out something in Taldane. A twinge of worry is evident in her voice, as she knows the hellknights can range anywhere from the Order of the Torrent and the Pike on one end, to the Order of the Rack and the Pyre on the other.
"Before I say anything about myself, state your order, Hellknight."
Oppa stands and watches the interaction with a hand on Doxie's head as a slow rumble somewhere between a growl and a purr as Violant seems a bit apprehensive at the presence of the big knight.
Alak offers a disarming, charming smile. “Armiger Alak Stagram of the Order of the Nail. Formerly of Citadel Altaerein, currently of Citadel Vraid in Varisia.” He gives a formal bow. “How nice to meet you in this beautiful and well-kept estate.” He adds with a touch of sarcasm.