"Come now, Farrina, that's no way to talk." Timdok replies as he flexes his newly-healed muscles. "You've upset Cerulean so much she just about poked me in the eye with that suture needle. And, you know how Cassiel mopes if we pass on the opportunity to do something heroic."
"Plus, you can't beat a pre-paid job," he observes as he tucks the potion of flying and healing potion into his belt. "Let's at least check it out."
Cassiel catches Farrina's words and frowns slightly. She had to know he wasn't going to just let this pass without comment. He steps forward and places a comforting hand on Cerulean's shoulder. "Farrina these kholos are people, not savages. They deserve our help as much as anyone else. We are not just here for the glory or the gold, though those can be fine motivators. We are here because it's the right thing to do."
He glances at Timdok and Cerulean, then back to Farrina. "Every life we save, every soul we free from darkness, that is where true heroism lies. It's not always about the big battles or the grand victories. Sometimes, it's about the small, everyday choices to do good, even when no one is watching."
"Besides, you said it yourself. We are the Heralds of Heroism afterall."
With the cache secured, you finish your journey to the Choke. The dry riverbed finally comes to an end at a bowl-shaped depression below a shaft worn into the mountainside, leading up to a cave entrance fifty feet above. A roughly twenty-foot-diameter circular platform of wood sits within this depression; six thick braided ropes leading up and over pulleys driven into the stone at the cave entrance reveals it to be a simple elevator. On a nearby wall, a message has been scrawled in charcoal. The message reads, in Common: "Call out and we'll haul you up!"
The wind whips and howls through the upper reaches, but at ground level, the air is strangely calm. To either side of the dry riverbed, a pair of wooden poles have been driven into the ground. Disturbingly familiar-looking figures clad in rags have been lashed to these poles. They appear to be the dead bodies of some of your friends, family, and associates!
Farrina, though, familiar with illusion magic, can sense the occult energies around each figure...
Tim squints at the runes on the poles. "Well, doesn't look like a fireball, so that's good news." He pulls runs his gloves hand across the runes and tries to break the magical bindings.
Timdok expertly disrupts the runes. The illusions fall away, revealing the bodies to be those of rag-clad kholos. Examining the bodies, you can tell the each one died of poisoned puncture wounds, likely from either a giant scorpion or a similar creature. One of the dead kholos still wears a pair of greater healer's gloves.
Timdok hands the gloves over to the group.
"I suggest we don't call out for a lift up this elevator. I could climb the rope, but I don't want to get shanked by a group of giants. Anyone have bright ideas?"
Cassiel looks solemnly at the bodies of the kholos, his expression tightening with a mixture of sadness and resolve. ”These poor souls... We must make sure their deaths weren't in vain.”
When Timdok hands over the gloves, Cassiel takes them briefly, inspecting them before passing them to Cerulean. He then listens to Timdok's concerns about the elevator. "I agree, calling out might alert the giants-or worse, whoever else might be waiting for us up there."
Cassiel glances up at the cave entrance, considering the options. “Perhaps if we approach silently, we might surprise whoever is up there." He looks to the others. "Does anyone have a spell or a trick to make us harder to spot? Or perhaps a diversion we could use to draw their attention away while we ascend?"
Esirelle shakes her head. "I can help make the way safe with magic and my sandals will let me fly up there, but I think most of will need to rely on Cerulean's elixirs. Let's figure out any other preparations we'll need to make. It's been a little while since we've all adventured together, so we could be out of practice. But this isn't any rehearsal if this Slumbering King is what we truly fear."
"Come now, Farrina, that's no way to talk." Timdok replies as he flexes his newly-healed muscles. "You've upset Cerulean so much she just about poked me in the eye with that suture needle. And, you know how Cassiel mopes if we pass on the opportunity to do something heroic."
"Plus, you can't beat a pre-paid job," he observes as he tucks the potion of flying and healing potion into his belt. "Let's at least check it out."
"Personally, I'd rather take the pay and the job can go hang," Farrina mutters.
Now noticing the effect her words have had on the alchemist, her shoulders slump. "Cerulean, Luv, you know that I would never lump you in with people like ... that. You're my favorite fluffy no matter what face you're wearing and you're miles above kholos."
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Cerulean snaps out of their stupor when Timdok talks and quickly finishes up the task at hand which is patching up the halfling, before moving away. They find some light comfort in Cassiel's approach, and only offers a energy deficient "mmm... course I know." to Farrina, choosing to remain quiet for much of the remainder of the trip.
During the night Cerulean finds themselves awake longer than most of the crew preparing for the next day's troubles ahead of hand.
Darkvision Elixirx4
Silver Salve X3
Phantom Roll(10 minutes interact) x1 (For Tim)
Silver Crescentx1 (emergency snack for undead)
Bottled Lightning x2(my only combat bomb without quick alchemy'ing, but honestly we've got enough oomph that I don't think even this'll be necessary)
Revealing Mist x1 free 30ft bump invis down to concealed which may be really useful here
Cerulean dispenses the Darkvision Elixir's to the group members who can't see in the darkness, "These will last all day so you can go ahead and drink them now if you wish." They had a distinctly medical grape syrup flavor to them and leave a chalky aftertaste in one's mouth. But the effects can't be denied. Tim receives another similarly light and refreshing Lettuce wrap for breakfast, "It'll help you stay on your feet."
They also hand out the spiderfoot brews, "These however will need to be saved until it's time to use them, they're short lived and since I didn't have much time to prepare quite impotent." A small jar of sticky silvery paste is handed to Cassiel, Timdok, and Kharya, "Specially treated to help us against our adversary if it is indeed our old vampiric foe. I don't believe I have to explain to you how to utilize it dears?"
Hooking two bottles mixed with a currently separated layer of light blue and dark purple liquid onto the bandolier hidden within the gown and tucking something else away Cerulean seems as ready as possible for the day to begin.
Timdok invisibly clambers up to the platform. A cave mouth opens to the northeast of this shaft, which continues upward until it emerges a hundred feet above into the open air. A pair of weathered faces carved into the stony walls leer into the shaft from either side of the cave entrance. Pulleys hung with ropes have been affixed to the walls; these ropes then lead into the cavern. From further in, a constant howling sound echoes.
A large stack of boulders has been loosely heaped just to the side of another cave entrance to the northwest, partially blocking the opening. The cave floor overlooks the shaft, rising ten feet higher than the floor leading to the northeastern cavern. The small cave here serves as a guardpost. A single desert giant stands guard here, but he doesn't notice Timdok.
"So ... do we blast him from here or ...?" Farrina questions. She brushes down the raised hair on her arms as the effect of the howling permeates her bones.
"Odd acoustics. Inferno?" "Yes?" "Sounds like musical stoneware to me, confirm?" "I can't really confirm without you walking our eyes over, Niush." **clunk** She flicks a finger into the side of her head and addresses the friends that don't live on her head. "Just the wind blowing in and around stone. Nothing to fear. Neither is a single giant."
Drinking one of the darkvision elixirs, Esirelle follows the others up the cliff wall -- moving quickly and surely.
"Nethys!" she whispers, easily identifying the faces on the wall. "And a giant! I think I'm up. Let me see if I can do something about that!"
And she reaches out with her divine power to try to grab the giant's mind.
Cass climbs up the to the platform with the party. After catching his breath, he asks Esirelle "What can you tell us?"
Timdok snacks on his morning cabbage roll and chases it with the elixir. "Away we go!"
Timdok stands right behind Cassiel and whispers, "Giant up here, and winds blowing deeper in the cave. Nothing unnatural about that."
The dominated giant's face goes slack as he awaits Esirelle's commands...
"Come to us, tall, brown and sandy. We have some questions. What are you guarding down there?"
Cassiel rattles of a series of questions (or feeds them to Esirelle to relay)
"How many are guarding this place? Are there any traps or hidden dangers ahead? What do you know of the Slumbering King? What lies deeper within this cave? Why have the giants been taking the kholos?"
The giant climbs down to the ground level using the ropes and starts answering questions. "There are seven more of my people, plus a clan of scorpionfolk. There may be more traps, but I have not ventured too deep into the Choke myself. The Slumbering King commanded us to capture the kholos, but I do not know why. I have never seen him face-to-face."
"Why do your people serve an unseen king?"
"What is the nature of this Slumbering King? Is he a giant?"
"He is a giant, yes. One of our great ancestors from the distant past, risen anew," the dominated giant says. "He has said a band of marauding warriors and mages would come from the north to murder us. Without his protection, our tribes would surely perish."
Esirelee feels the domination secure its hold on the giant's mind.
"I wonder if that's us. Without his interfering, we wouldn't have cared at all about the tribes," Esirelle murmurs. She waits until everyone has finished asking their questions, then sends the giant away.
"Go tell the tribes that you've learned the Slumbering King lied to you. No one is coming to destroy them."
The giant nods and wanders off into the desert...
"I wonder if that's us. Without his interfering, we wouldn't have cared at all about the tribes," Esirelle murmurs.
Farrina leans in towards Esirelle.
"I still don't care about the tribes, but we're committed at this point. I just hope that there's a pot of gold at the end of this s#*%-colored rainbow."
"More likely we're just an excuse. He would have seized the tribe fore some reason, I'm sure," Timdok notes. "We all know the type."
"So, we've some giants inside. Shall we make our way in? Perhaps we can also convince the scorpion folk that we are not their enemies."
Cassiel nods at Timdok's words "You're probably right, Tim. The Slumbering King would have found a reason to manipulate them regardless of us. Fear and power often go hand in hand for tyrants like him."
You climb up to the upper cave entrance and enter the Choke proper. The cave walls north of a sandy riverbed to the south have been worked into flat surfaces here to create an enormous, cathedral-like space. The ceiling is sixty feet high, and the walls are adorned with countless angry faces, sphinxes, and complicated curls of hieroglyphs. Three slender stone pillars stand in the middle of the room, each decorated with carvings depicting fire, lightning, and rain. Those who identified the carvings before recognize this place as a shrine to Nethys, specifically venerating the god's aspect as a force of destruction and fury.
Twin stairs lead up to the eastern end of the room, where a curving dais against the wall might have once held religious treasures but now is covered in a heap of furs, weapons, broken timbers, rocks, and the periodic glitter of something metallic. More furs and tattered reed mats lay strewn haphazardly over the floor with many spilling out into the cavern to the southwest. The howling sounds even louder to the east, around the corner and deeper into the cavern.
Five desert giants are here, amusing themselves by playing a game. Similar to ninepins or skittles, this game seems to consist of rolling a human’s skull (bound in strips of leather and cold iron bands to give it a rounder shape) to knock over a set of camel bones set up in one of dozens of stacked configurations.
When the giants notice you, they are surprised but do not immediately attack. One of them calls out warily. "Hail, northerners. We need not resort to violence. How about a game of clatterbones? If one of you wins, we will allow you to leave peacefully. If we win, though, you must surrender to us. Do we have a deal?"
"An interesting prospect, but are you not afraid of what the Slumbering King will do to you if you let us by?" Tim questions. "Aren't you his guards?"
”Well, he doesn’t have to know about it, right?” the giant says. Timdok can tell that the giants are nervous and jittery—they probably recognize you like the giant who tried to run away earlier did.
Cassiel tries to recall something about the game of clatterbones before he makes a suggestion.
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Cerulean watches the game as they close in trying to garner some details.
"Could you explain the rules before we choose our champion? And maybe what surrendering to you might entail? For either party. Unlike your apparent master, we-" They motion to everyone in the group present, "don't care to have slaves."
The giants explain the rules of the game to you. In surrendering to them, you would become their prisoners, and they would take you to the Slumbering King that he might do with you as he sees fit.
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At Tims assent to the ordeal Cerulean reaches into the folds of their ashen gown and pulls forth a vial of a pulpy liquid with a very slight tinge of pink between two knuckles. Strides over to the nearest giant and plucks the end of one of their leg hairs off tucking it behind their ear for now.
"Always better when it's fresher and ooh it's so nice to have access to walking ingredients. And maybe, if you play nice, you'll get a treat afterwards to prove we're not the big scary mownsters that the Slumbering King says we are." Cer gingerly coos in a playful voice before spiralling away from any potential agressive response.
Cer pulls a second vial with a clear alcholhest within, out of the bandolier strapped on their chest. With a 'POP' both corks are sent skyward. Cer makes little effort to catch the one from the pulpy liquid, but manages to snag the alcholhest's. Combining the two liquids, they toss the now empty vial, recork the remainder and begin shaking vigorously with a rhythmic swish to set the pace. "Any of you actually know any of the tales of how supremely magical giants once were? With the right alchemical know how, even the most impotent of magics can be brought to bear in another being. Sometimes in delightful forms."
With a spinning flourish, the shaking stops, the cork is popped once again, a small flask is served to Timdok, and as the final dash of spice, Cerulean gingerly places that not forgotten Giant's hair into the drink like a groteque little party umbrella. Looking a little sorry for Tim, "The flavor'll hold, so bottoms up while it's good."
The frothy concoction smells like ginger, light rum, and citrus. The taste is that of a strange combination of the two distinct scents, light ginger spiced rum, with citrus hints, followed by the strangely powerful aftertaste of grapefruit. It is a dry beverage, but shortly after imbibing Timdok would feel himself and his gear begin to swell to stand a few heads over even Cassiel, with a moderate to light buzz to boot.
Cassiel steps closer to Cerulean, offering a small smile. He places his large hand gently on their shoulder and says "You've outdone yourself once again, Cerulean. Truly remarkable."
Then, turning to the giants with a stern expression, he adds, "Remember, we’re here for a fair game. No tricks, no deceit. Timdok will represent us, and we will honor the outcome, just as you will. But know this-if this Slumbering King seeks to harm us or enslave others, we will not stand idly by."
Timdok slams the elixir and a giant grimace grows as his body swells in size.
He picks up a skull, hefts it for a moment, and then tosses is down to knock over a bone.
The giant's roll goes wide of the bones. She scowls and steps back to allow Timdok his turn.
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Cassiel steps closer to Cerulean, offering a small smile. He places his large hand gently on their shoulder and says "You've outdone yourself once again, Cerulean. Truly remarkable."
Then, turning to the giants with a stern expression, he adds, "Remember, we’re here for a fair game. No tricks, no deceit. Timdok will represent us, and we will honor the outcome, just as you will. But know this-if this Slumbering King seeks to harm us or enslave others, we will not stand idly by."
"I doo perform miracles under pressure of immediate servitude." They say coyly, then whisper quietly, "Though perhaps there is also benefit to playing the role of captive should Timdok happen to lose, it would get us quite close to the Slumbering King after all. Hazardous, but a reliable escort through the mix of things."
Perking up at the first score to dissuade any from listening too closely, "Go get them Timdok, show them your true mettle!"
Esirelle waits and watches, little she can do to really help here, which is always a frustrating turn of events. She sizes up the giants as they all wait and watch, preparing in case they will need to fight at the end of this all. Though she's hopeful Timdok can avoid that concern.
Tim's second shot barely hits the bone.
Round 3
The giant misses with the second skull, but comes back with her third throw, knocking the bones off balance. The other giants watch expectantly as the final round begins.
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The giant meets the eyes of her fellows as she steps up to throw the last skull. She winds her hand back, but then she shouts, ”Now!”
Before you can react, the giants draw their scimitars and rush to attack! They hack and slash, drawing blood from all of you except for Esirelle!
Farrina shrieks in pain and rage before spewing forth a stream of obscenities that almost colors the air around her already colorful form.
"You cretinous cocksucking clitweasel!" she snarls. "Do you know how much this dress cost?!"
Taking in the chaos surrounding her, her face hardens. "F&#* this. Not my stage. Not my show." And then with words of magic the wizard vanishes from sight.
Timdok pretends to stumble back as he drops into his fighting stance, then weaves to confuse the giant before swinging on him.
for
Kharya can't help but laugh at the sudden turn of fortune, a harsh grating thing by the time it escapes her helm.
"Oh this screams Akhenaten, and so will they!"
Shoving her shield in the face of the one that dared strike her, she hammers a brazen elbow into the kneecap of the one still wet with Farrina's blood.
"We offered peace, but you have chosen a darker path. The Dawnflower’s light will cleanse your deception!" Cassiel shouts, shocked at the deception and unable to see it coming.
As Farrina rabbits, Cassiel positions himself to protect Cerulean, whose wounds are far more severe. He slashes once, raises his shield and extends the range of his aura to 30'.
Divine Grace
You call upon your deity’s grace, gaining a +2 circumstance bonus to the save.
Flash of Grandeur
An enemy damages your ally, and both are in your champion’s aura; Effect Imperious divine light flashes out from you to surround your foe. The ally gains resistance to all damage against the triggering damage equal to 2 + your level. For 1 round, the attacker is affected by revealing light.
(1) Exalted Reaction: In addition to the enemy affected by Flash of Grandeur, each other enemy in your champion’s aura (30') is affected by the revealing light spell for 1 round.
(2) Relentless Reaction: The enemy also takes persistent spirit damage equal to your Charisma modifier (4), and it can’t recover from this persistent damage while affected by the revealing light from your Flash of Grandeur.
(3) Brilliant Flash: Your light cleanses souls of fear. When you use Flash of Grandeur, the attacker is also off-guard for 1 round.
(4) Revealing Light
Range 120 feet; Area 10-foot burst
Defense Reflex; Duration varies
A wave of magical light washes over the area. You choose the appearance of the light, such as colorful, heatless flames or sparkling motes. A creature affected by revealing light is dazzled. If the creature was invisible, it becomes concealed instead. If the creature was already concealed for any other reason, it is no longer concealed.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The light affects the creature for 2 rounds.
Failure The light affects the creature for 1 minute.
Critical Failure The light affects the creature for 10 minutes.
Reactive Shield
You can snap your shield into place just as you would take a blow, avoiding the hit at the last second. You immediately use the Raise a Shield action and gain your shield’s bonus to AC. The circumstance bonus from the shield applies to your AC when you’re determining the outcome of the triggering attack.
Shield Block
You snap your shield in place to ward off a blow. Your shield prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield’s Hardness. You and the shield each take any remaining damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield.