The door is neither locked nor trapped, which is a good thing as it is massive and would have taken quite a bit of work to get through.
The air inside the chamber beyond is incredibly stale and spending time in it makes one lightheaded. No doubt that is why the dark-haired woman slumped in the corner is unconscious, her breathing rapid and shallow and her skin flushed red.
Whether because the air in the chamber becomes refreshed or because they haul her out into the fresher air, she regains consciousness soon enough.
A flicker of sarcasm crosses her bruised lips, though the expression visibly pains her. “You’re not... Oh, good. It gets better.” More words begin to raggedly emerge, but a coughing fit overtakes her, and she pauses before continuing. “Whoever you are, you’re going to want to heal me. This place is about to fall down on your heads, and only I can tell you how to escape. I built this place, you know.”
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"I've got an elixir that allows me to tunnel through dirt and rock," Diazepane says, rolling his eyes at the idea that the whole place collapsing would be fatal.
"But, I don't have enough for my friends, so I'll reluctantly heal you."
Diazepane will give her a single tap of his wand of cure light wounds.
"You can save everyone, now."
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Nadya quickly examines the woman to see if she's suffering from any condition aside from oxygen deprivation.
If she needs anything besides the tap from the healing wand (Restoration, Cure Disease, Neutralize Poison, etc), she'll administer it.
She'll also try to gauge the woman's sincerity, to make sure this isn't all a gambit or ruse.
She does look better after the healing from the wand, though still injured. Apparently, she didn't make it to her panic room before her unholy creation got a few licks in.
Still, Nadya easily sees through her ruse and knows that she's neither in danger of dying immediately nor is there any chance that the complex is going to collapse on everyone.
She sighs when she notes Nadya's steely eyed gaze.
"Fine, fine. I'll tell you what you want to know. Just don't kill me and help me get out of here," she says.
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Nadya nods slowly, glaring like a disappointed mother at a wayward child. She crosses her arms and exhales wearily, allowing a few silent moments to pile up like stones on Kramalog's shoulders.
"Oh yes, Professor, you will be coming back to Absalom with us to be our guest. The Pathfinder Society will have many questions for you about Conference Z."
"We found your research notes in the laboratory above, about the owbs and your dealings with the caligni. I have only two questions for you right now."
"First -- who is Suliji Peshar and how was he related to all this?"
"Second -- what did you hope to accomplish through this mad scheme to 'create' a god? Did you not realize that if you truly succeeded that your creation would be beyond your control and would immediately seek to destroy you? Are you foolish or naive?"
Kramolag is glad to be out of danger and clearly feels no qualms about spilling her guts now that the jig is up.
“Suliji’s the one who started it all—she and her withered patron," Kramolag then smirks and continues. “Suliji knows how to manipulate. She pulled together a group of six of us. Some she lured with a chance for revenge, others with the promise of profit, and me with the looming specter of blackmail. We did her bidding, coordinated her attack on the Grand Lodge, and ultimately suffered when the Society began attacking to avenge itself. No doubt you’ve felt very proud every time you executed another Korholm leader? We’ve learned the hard way that Suliji uses those happy feelings as a smokescreen to operate with impunity, letting you think you’ve won every time you kill a decoy. No doubt she sold me out because I looked too deeply into her real plans.”
There is defiant pride in her expression as she answers Nadya's second question.
“That was my greatest work to date. Some outsiders form as pearls do, wrapping a fragment of divine power in a pleasant sheath. As I surmised, by extracting enough of that divine ‘grit’ and combining it under exacting conditions, one can make a puddle of god-stuff. If it hadn’t become rather…willful, I might have been able to make a full-fledged demigod or better instead of an upstart, lab-wrecking pool of spite. Ultimately, it’s a success—further proof that divinities are nothing so sacrosanct that proper lab conditions cannot replicate the effects.”
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“Suliji’s the one who started it all—she and her withered patron,"
"Withered patron?" asks Nadya, single eyebrow raised.
“...No doubt you’ve felt very proud every time you executed another Korholm leader? We’ve learned the hard way that Suliji uses those happy feelings as a smokescreen to operate with impunity, letting you think you’ve won every time you kill a decoy.”
Nadya frowns and furrows her brow, and her eyes glance about at her companions to see if they share her misgiving at this revelation.
“That was my greatest work to date. Some outsiders form as pearls do, wrapping a fragment of divine power in a pleasant sheath. As I surmised, by extracting enough of that divine ‘grit’ and combining it under exacting conditions, one can make a puddle of god-stuff. If it hadn’t become rather…willful, I might have been able to make a full-fledged demigod or better instead of an upstart, lab-wrecking pool of spite. Ultimately, it’s a success—further proof that divinities are nothing so sacrosanct that proper lab conditions cannot replicate the effects.”
Nadya sighs impatiently and waves a dismissive hand. "You have been stuck in basement too long, Professor. You people of science are all the same. A few experiments and you think you hold world in your hands. You cannot create god in a test-tube. And the true gods will resent your blasphemy."
She looks about at her group. "I have heard enough. Shall we go? This room smells like cabbage."
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Nadya sighs impatiently and waves a dismissive hand. "You have been stuck in basement too long, Professor. You people of science are all the same. A few experiments and you think you hold world in your hands. You cannot create god in a test-tube. And the true gods will resent your blasphemy."
Diazepane whistles innocently, and agrees to leave.
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Nadya frowns and furrows her brow, and her eyes glance about at her companions to see if they share her misgiving at this revelation.
Daedîn shrugs as he whispers, ”I can put an arrow in her eye to make her shut up, if you wish…”
She looks about at her group. "I have heard enough. Shall we go? This room smells like cabbage."
The Elf nods and leads the way out…
Kramolag does nothing to resist being brought out of her lab, though the Pathfinders may have a task keeping her angry former underlings from trying to get revenge for almost getting them killed.
It is not too long later that a larger Pathfinder ship captained by a tengu arrives to pick them up.
All that is left to do is to find out how the other two groups of Pathfinder agents the team sent out did.
Investigate the Sundersun Site (Knowledge [dungeoneering or engineering]; the Kernaug Group) The Aspis agents sent to raid Wirholt’s Rictus stole many of its most valuable secrets, yet there remains worthwhile occult information that a team could recover before the Aspis Consortium returns to clean up the site. Beware the alien fauna that still stalk the premises!
Investigate the Uskwood Site (Knowledge [geography
or nature] the Scroll Seekers): The Uskwood is a dangerous place traversed by few, which is exactly what Professor Kramolag betted on when founding a concealed facility at the southern edge of the forest. Whoever travels here must contest with vindictive fey and the site’s uncompromised defenses.
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Svetlana is fascinated about the revelation of creating life, and winders just how quickly she could get this heretic to the Enferac and the Order of the Gate to put this person to the flame.
She's less across these junior Pathfinders, happy to provide them gold, but the academic lifting left to others.
Both teams return with a plethora of information regarding the two sites they were sent to investigate and the Scroll Seekers have a hair raising tale about how closely Tarys came to being eaten by a group of redcaps.
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Nadya nods gravely. "Indeed. Professor proceeded from faulty premise of course -- to her a god is but a being of great powers, and she cobbled together such a thing. But it was no god, or even the start of one. Just another monster. One that would have tried to enslave the world because it believed itself to be a god. How could it have been otherwise, handing power and sentience to a creature all at one this way? And yet she was surprised when her new leopard tried to eat her face."
"What would it have been god of? What purpose would have motivated it? Only a hunger to consume and destroy. Rovagug would have found it and annihilated it the moment he sensed a rival. I still fail to see what she imagined she stood to gain, beyond the satisfaction of creating this thing. But it is so with scientists, yes? They seek the answers of the world though their small questions, but never fully consider the true meaning of the answers -- this they leave to others. This is why religion is the higher and truer kind of knowledge."
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Nadya shakes her head at this. “Our superiors will want to question her in great detail about her Conference Z. And I fear she may be telling truth about nature of the Korholm Agenda. This Suliji Peshar may indeed be leading our organization down primrose path to keep us busy.”
”Fortunately our Professor is creature with no loyalties or morals. I think she will cooperate if it benefits her to do so. Her own miserable skin is all she values, no?”