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Staggering under the heavy assault from the Hippogriff, the Stranger realizes that he made a mistake by attacking the creature. The group hadn't even taken one of the beasts down and already him and Kallistratos were on their last legs. Regardless as Oinos channels the magical soothing vapor towards him, the Exemplar stands his ground and lobs another pair of shadowy spears at the wounded beast these two hurtling with speed enough to cause sonic vibrations upon the air and through the creature's bones.
Oinos learns that the hippogriffs have no specific weaknesses, though they are weak-willed.
Arfi's first blast miss but he hits with his follow-up. Kalli heroically hurls his spear, impaling the wounded hippogriff and knocking it from the sky! It careens down to the ground and slams into it with bone-crunching force.
The Stranger shifts his aim to the other hippogriff, hitting it twice with shadowy javelins.
The beast shrieks and swoops down to land in front of the Stragner, biting and raking at him. But this time the Stranger is ready, and he dodges aside!
Oinos' apprehension is contagious in the charged atmosphere of the crater. He channels some of it toward the remaining hippogriff.
Arfi-em-khet begins to call upon the Earth to do his bidding!
The Kineticist sends another dirt dagger out at it...
Kal hurls himself towards the hippogriff, trying to tackle it to the ground, shield first.
Kalli fails to tackle the hippogriff, but Arfi hits it with daggers of stone, and the Stranger scores another hit with his javelins which is enough to finish it off before Oinos casts his spell. The beast collapses, bleeding out.
"Well done," Merosyne says as she finishes her song.
One of the hippogriffs' feathers glows with lingering mythic power. This can be harvested as a hippogriff feather.
Arfi-em-khet begins to silence his Aura, once the final hippogriff falls.
Most unfortunate that such creatures need to be put down. Such a pity.
"Ah, well, we'll have something to remember them by," Oinos says as he tucks the glowing feather into his hair. "Now: Is anyone hurt? CAn we push on into the crater?"
You investigate the crater, but there's not much left to find. It's clear that a small object, about the size of a human head, fell from the sky here, though no trace of it remains. There are some humanoid footprints around the crater, though these are at least several days old, and their trail is soon lost in the scuffling left by the hippogriffs.
However, a few moments after you have finished investigating, the transparent figure of a muscular human woman, clad in linothorax armor, strides across the crater. Her sandaled feet don’t touch the ground, but bursts of dust and grass rise where she walks. She hefts her gladius high, pointing it warningly at you.
"I am Sophreista of Eupherae," she declares. "Slayer of the Chimera of Aevelos, scourge of the armies of Pol-Sylirica, she who held back the tide at Melekei. Who are you?"
As she waits for an answer, her outline briefly shimmers crimson, but the aura dissipates as she shakes her head. "I rage at my own behest, fury-star," she grumbles under her breath. "No one else’s."
Merosyne hesitantly steps forward from behind you. "Sophreista... My love..." she begins.
Sophreista's eyes widen. "Merosyne! Is it... is it really you? How can you still be alive after all this time?"
"A ritual, my love. I put myself into an endless sleep, until such a time as I might find a way to put your spirit to rest. These heroes have come to grant you the peace you have sought for so long," Merosyne says. Tears begin to well up in her eyes.
Sophreista's eyes gleam with spectral tears of her own. "I am so very weary of lingering in this place, Merosyne. I am ready to move on. I only ask that when I am gone, do not become lost in your grief. You must live on, for both of our sakes. Will you promise me that?"
Merosyne nods in between her sobs. "Yes. I swear it, Sophreista." She wipes at her eyes before turning to you. "It is time. You must reenact her final battle so that she may find satisfaction in victory."
Oinos channels his wild nature, becoming more goatlike, until he resembles one of the heads of the famous Aevelothian Chimera.
"I am your end, Sophreista!" He bleats as he makes a feinting charge at her.
Arfi-em-khet bows low to the appearance of the muscular human woman, clad in linothorax armor.
Well met, Sophreista of Eupherae. I am called Arfi-em-khet. Ancient Guardian, honored to be of service.
The Kartaji Epicurean listens intently to the mission given to them for this particular performance. The Kholo's blue eyes seem to look into the past, as his words recite the history as he has heard it.
Beneath the banners of Eupherae stands a legend forged in blood and brine. She is the Slayer of the Aevelothian Chimera, a hunter who turned the predator into prey upon the jagged coast.
As the Scourge of Pol-Sylirica, she was the iron wall that shattered the vanity of empires, a name whispered in terror by retreating armies.
Yet her greatest glory remains etched in the stones of Melekei, where she stood alone against the crushing dark—the single spark that held back the tide when all other lights had failed.
Kal leaps up, spear gleaming in the sun's rays as he mimics a vicious deathstroke!
Sophreista grins as she brandishes her gladius. "If this is to be my end, then I shall make it such an end that the bards will sing of it for ages to come!" she declares. She slashes and thrusts as Arfi provides ongoing narration and the rest of you leap and dodge around her, putting on a grand show.
"Arg, I die! My spirit leaves me," Oinos groans, overdramatically.
As Sophreista thrusts towards Kal, he leaps backwards just before the point of impact, the wind-claimed corsair flying through the air with the force of her 'strike.'
Arfi-em-khet begins staging a fight with Oinos!
Apparently, the Kholo's wrestling skills are on point (poor Oinos!)....
Though Oinos and Stranger falter a bit, Kalli's and Arfi's performance more than make up for it. Sophreista swings her blade in a final flourish. Then she lowers her sword, the haze of battle fading from her eyes, and she surveys those around her.
“Thank you, my friends,” she says. “I feel…” She begins to glow, the edges of her form blurring and fragmenting. “I feel I can travel to the afterlife at last. I hope only that I’ve earned enough renown to live among our islands’ great heroes. I hope… you remember my deeds…”
She glows brighter, then vanishes, leaving only the scent of laurel behind. Merosyne bows her head and wipes at the fresh tears in her eyes.
A few moments later, though, a shockwave of energy blasts forth from the crater, knocking you to the ground! The crater and blackened trees vanish, replaced by fractured visions cycling past at a dizzying rate. An immense woman, towering hundreds of feet high, weeps over a blighted landscape, clashes with silhouettes of other massive figures under a blood-red sky, and is driven back by hurricane winds out over the ocean. Another vision flashes of a gauntlet-clad hand driving a blade through her chest, and she sinks below the waves.
For a moment, the vision goes black. A red spark appears through the darkness, followed by the silhouette of a humanoid figure with snakes for hair. A feeling of relief and urgent demand suffuses the image, then it fades, leaving only the empty crater behind.
"What on the green earth was that?!" Oinos gasps. "I don't think I'm made for prophecy, I need a drink."
The satyr takes a seat on a nearby rock and pulls out a cup from his bag, and waves a hand over it, making it fill with wine.
The wine fills the cup more swiftly than usual, causing it to overflow. When Oinos takes a sip, it is among the finest, most potent spirits he has ever tasted!
"Wow!" Oinos gulps it down. Probably too quickly. "Something very unusual is happening, but I'm not complaining."
Kal drops to his knees, head in his hands. "Something feels... strange..." Visibly green-gilled, his gaze is dragged up to meet his companions. "Is everyone okay?" his instincts ask.
Blue eyes bow to Sophreista, as she says her farewells.
This one will remember Sophreista!
Blinking back tears as the scenes flash pointedly in his eyes, the Ancient Guardian appears a bit taken back....
Kalli seems to stand up a bit more swiftly than usual, his muscles feeling strong and limber. Meanwhile, Arfi's senses are enhanced, the colors around him seeming brighter, the scents more sharp. And the Stranger feels his ikons resonating with new power flowing through them.
Merosyne's eyes widen slightly. "By the gods... I think Sophreista's mythic power must have awoken something within you. Mayhaps you have become mythic yourselves!"
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The Stranger checks his equipment and wonders if this is how his former master felt.
"You mean... we may have become hero gods?"
He wonders what that would entail for such a group to all become such all together at once. "Sophreista's companion would know more perhaps about knowing if that's what has happened to us."
Part 1, Chapter 3: Rage at Rosy-Fingered Dawn
As you make your way back to camp, it soon becomes clear that you are far more powerful than you were previously. You spend some time experimenting with your new abilities, harnessing the nascent mythic power within you. There's nothing more to do here on Eupherae, so Yasmenei sets the expedition’s departure to the next day’s dawn, as the currents will be favorable then. Merosyne agrees to accompany you back to Pol-Bailax, to find her place in the modern world now that Sophreista is finally at peace.
The journey proceeds without incident. Warm dawn light spreads over the eastern horizon on the last morning of the journey, casting its rosy-fingered rays over the deck of the Tide Hunter. To the west, the silhouette of Pol-Bailax’s skyline comes into view, glowing as bright as the dawn. A red mist hangs over the city, and black plumes rise from several of the buildings.
At the helm, Yasmenei frowns. “What’s that?” she asks, raising her spyglass to her eye. She surveys the city for a moment, then lowers the spyglass, her frown deepening. “Fires. Multiple ones. But Pol-Bailax has a system to fight any fires that arise—how did it get this bad?”
“Perhaps we should seek another port until they have this issue under control,” her first mate Ekuno says, regarding the city with concern.
Yasmenei shakes her head. “No. Something’s wrong, and people might need help.” She raises her voice to pitch across the Tide Hunter. “Stay on course! We’ll anchor offshore and investigate.”
"It is hard to douse fires after they spread so far," Oinos observes. "Perhaps they started in multiple areas at once."
Despite the new power coursing through his frame, Kal spends the the first night of the journey sick as a dog, sicker even than he'd been when he first fled to the sea.
The next days though, see him jubilant. He greets every dawn with a beaming smile and boundless energy. Shirtlessly scaling the rigging and shinnying down ropes at the slightest excuse to be helpful, the simple exertion of his body seems to fill him with a true peace. He shaves his facial hair - possibly after fouling it the night of his strange illness, though he never admits to it, but begins growing it back into the same style right away.
***
When Yasmenei spies the fires, he finds himself almost mouthing along with her that "People might need help." It's an impulse he's always had to some degree, only he knew quite a bit about why he needed the help too, and often that drew his priority.
But not today. Spear and shield at the ready, Kallistratos dons his armor and waits at the bow, ready to leap into whatever trouble awaits.
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Sitting on the deck when the fires are spotted the Stranger moves up towards the front alongside Kallistratos. He'd been filled with an anxiety, but not like usual and this drew it up to a peak.
"We'll move in quickly then. I can scout ahead if need be. I feel." He ponders for a moment before looking at his companion, "Closer to my old self, stronger than I have in a long time. My hooves ache to feel the ground rushing under them again."
Once the ship anchors, Yasmenei springs to action, seeking out her contacts in Pol-Bailax for information while the crew sets up camp on an eerily deserted beach near the harbor. The other expedition teams disperse upon arrival, heading into the city to see to their own family and friends. The acrid smell of smoke is strong in the air, and distant explosions and shouts occasionally echo from further in the city, adding to the unsettling atmosphere.
As the crew finishes setting up camp, Yasmenei returns. “Well, we’ve got some answers, but fewer than I’d like,” she says. “Apparently, yesterday morning, Pol-Bailax just… erupted. People started fights, riots, frenzied festivities—it’s chaos out there. Half the citizens are roaming around setting fires and causing mayhem, while the other half have barricaded themselves inside anything they can defend. No one’s sure what’s caused it, but it seems to be connected to falling embers from the skystone.”
“What about the acropolis?” one of her crew members asks. “The drasikons should have done something to calm things down by now.”
Yasmenei shakes her head. “No one’s heard from anyone up there since all this started. I pinpointed a few of the worst trouble spots. We should deal with those and help who we can while we try to figure out what’s going on… and how to put a stop to it.”
Yasmenei asks that you investigate these hotspots, tamping down fires—literal and metaphorical—as you can, and protect Pol-Bailax’s people.
Boiling Point: Two rival family-run restaurants in North Slope have been feuding for over two centuries. An ember landed on each of their restaurants, causing the families’ simmering tensions to erupt into violent hostility. They’ve turned their neighborhood into a war zone.
Coils of Mercy: A deadly malady is spreading among the residents of South Slope. Pol-Bailax’s healers are overwhelmed by the troubles in the city, but an eccentric alchemist has a remedy that requires a dangerous ingredient.
Feathered Inferno: Pyrefowl have been sighted atop Pol-Bailax’s northwest watchtower, attracted by the fires smoldering there. Unfortunately, their own flames are spreading the blaze, putting the tower at risk of collapse.
Pyre’s Light: A group of citizens have a plan to attract Pol-Bailax’s patron phoenix back to the city—by building a massive bonfire within its library. Despite the danger, this group refuses to be dissuaded, reacting violently to any who try to stop them.
Serpents’ Teeth: A woman bearing a strange magical bag of dragons’ teeth is roaming the city, with peculiar warriors springing up in her wake. Her motivations are unclear, but her warriors cause fights wherever they go, before disintegrating.
Steel-Winged Death: The people of Kopis Heights are under attack by terrifying… butterflies? Rumors vary, but residents are in danger and need assistance.
"Oh no, those are two of my favorite restaurants!" Oinos cries. In truth, he loves all the eateries of the city.
"A burning library or a smashed restaurant is bad, but if we let strange warriors rampage through the city, that's a problem that will spread even faster than those flames."
Departure from the island seemed to allow for the Ancient Guardian to reflect upon those things seen and heard thus far. Arfi-em-khet bows low his head as the Tidal Hunter sails to Pol-Bailax. The kholo breaths easy the salt air, as he meditates.....
At the rumpling of strange sights on the horizon, the refreshed, rejuvenated, returned Kineticist makes his way to stand with his companions at the bow.
Pol-Bailax has need of heroes.
After they set of the camp, the kholo snarls at the findings by the scouts.
God's follies force mortals pain.
As the request for assistance is presented, Arfi grunts his affirmation. He seems not to have preference of initial task....
Investigation into the report of the strange warriors indicates that the woman and her soldiers have been wandering the Kylix, causing fights wherever they go. She hasn’t spoken to anyone, nor made any demands, but seems almost in a trance. Locals identify this woman as Phermeina, a stheno harpist who often plays at the surrounding taverns. None have any idea where she’s found these warriors, nor why she’d want to attack anyone, as she’s normally kind-hearted.
Like its namesake drinking vessel, the Kylix is a low, wide basin in sharp contrast to the hilly neighborhoods surrounding the acropolis. The expansive district hosts an array of markets, parks, workshops, and lower-cost homes. It’s also the favorite destination for the island’s centaurs, who built and maintain the communal dwellings and storehouses scattered throughout the district.
It doesn't take too long for the Stranger to follow Phermeina's trail. Soon enough, you see the young stheno leading a troop of strange armored warriors. They appear human at first glance, but close inspection reveals their skin has a clay-like texture and their teeth are actually draconic fangs. The stheno appears to be moving oddly, as if in a dream, and whispers emanate from a bag she holds in her hand.
"Oh, what's this?" Phermeina says as she spots you. She smiles vacantly and slowly turns towards you. "Do you mean to stop the glorious chaos my speiroikos are spreading?"
"Now, now, Phermeina: Let's not cause too much trouble," Oinos offers. [b]"We've got enough problems in the town right now.
Arfi-em-khet begins to attempt to dispel the enchanted performer!
You put a spell on me because your mine...
"This chaos isn't your own will!" Kal cries. "Please put down the bag and call them off!"
The strength of your words and Arfi's countercharm is enough to break Pheremeina out of her haze entirely. "What? What came over me? I'm sorry, I don't know what I was doing..."
The strange warriors suddenly raise their weapons and begin advancing on you. Phermeina tries calling them off, to no avail. "I'm sorry, they're not listening to me! But their fury can be diverted to each other if you distract them!" Phermeina shouts.
Before you can react, the speiroikos warriors let loose a flurry of heavy darts flung from slings. They then advance towards you with dorys and shields at the ready.
After getting hit squarely by a dart, Oinos scoops up a handful of gravel and starts throwing rocks amid the crowd. He finally manages to hit a stone warrior.
Arfi-em-khet begins to call the Earth to his side!
The Kineticist then watches as Oinos begins tossing peoples into the troop.
Not a bad idea actually.
He calls the stones to begin tearing through a speiroikos warrior!
The force of the darts jars Kal's arm, but it's his shield who's peppered with them, not he. The dragon's teeth are numerous, but they come against Kal with spear and shield, and now, more than ever, he is their master.
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The Stranger looks like he's about to get skewered by the sling darts, when a sudden updraft pushes them into the air and over him.
He stares in shock for a few moments then draws forth his javelin and returns fire.
Requirements: Your previous action was an unsuccessful Strike with the weapon from the shadow sheath
Effect The shadow weapon you threw fades, the distraction covering your true intention all along—a second strike in hidden in the blind spot of the first! Interact to draw another weapon from the shadow sheath, then Strike with it at the same multiple attack penalty as the unsuccessful attack. The opponent is off-guard to this attack. This Strike counts toward your multiple attack penalty as normal. After the Strike resolves, you can Interact to draw another weapon from the shadow sheath.
Arfi, Kalli, and the Stranger all land good hits, shattering the strange clay warriors and thinning the troops' ranks. Oinos manages to distract them with a hurled rock, diverting their fury to their own numbers. They slash and stab at each other, and soon there are only a few still standing.
With the statues distracted, Oinos launches a shard of metal at them.
for