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The alchemists try to oil the hinges but only manage to spill it on the floor. Pusong has trouble maneuvering his rifle as he tries to sneak near the door, but SiaoSiao does hear the following:
The fiend pauses, listening to something unseen. “Has the Formidable arrived at Kortos yet?”
The Hellknight assents. “The captain sent word at dawn. The spy was delivered and should send you first reports from Absalom tonight, Kizrech.”
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Durgok points out where the wood will slide more easily, and Nara uses that info to shift the door frame just enough that everyone can hear a bit more.
As the Hellknight and his ally turn to walk away from the door, the fiend inquiries about Absalom. “Have you had any success corrupting the Learned Guard? The records showed the Forae Logos holds the cipher key the Pathfinders used to breach the Spire of Nex.”
The Hellknight shakes his head. “They’re too well protected. But The Blakros Museum is nearby and might offer an alternative entrance our spy can find.”
A great horn echoes through the citadel, shaking the stones. The Hellknight glances up. “They’ve begun their assault. I must attend the defenses. And our reinforcements?”
Flames and shadows engulf the fiend as they fade from view. “The blood spilled shall open the way. I will direct Signifer Lucian to begin the rites and activate the circle.” Grasping shadows pull the fiend from this world while the Hellknight leaves the catacombs, the sound of a lock loud in the empty chamber.
The goblin sighs in relief before catching herself and straightening her posture. “You are friends, yes? Only friends know of the tunnel. I hope. I am Helba, chieftain of the Bumblebrashers. These awful monsters and metal longshanks keep hurting us! Ack! I sent most Bumblebrashers away. The rest are in trouble! Please, help? They’re near the glowy circle the longshanks made on the ground,” she says as she points deeper into the catacombs.
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Chief Helba sighs in relief and shakes SiaoSiao’s hand vigorously while effusively thanking the cleric in goblin. Chief Helba points to where the the Hellknights are sacrificing the Bumblebrashers to the summoning circle. They’re magically bound to it and tied and chained to the the floor with eldritch bindings. ”Please help Bumblebrashers. Maybe help them can hurt circle, too?” she posits.
Along the southern wall there is a large relief carving of a sunburst made of nails. Instead of typical flagstones, the floor is made up of headstones with names and dates. Blood pools on the ceiling, droplets flashing into crimson light as they fall onto a glowing red and black summoning circle at the far end of the catacombs. A painful hum like distant screaming grows louder with each breath.
It’s clear that you have a short time before the summoning circle activates.
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Nara frees the goblins just as the others disrupt the infernal magic of the late Olinda Posandi’s summoning circle. The broken circle surges and crackles with uncontrolled magic. The scarred face of a Hellknight projects through a mist of blood droplets. “The magic fails, but how… intruders! You shall not escape Hell’s justice for this sabotage!” Rips in the floor tear open into toothy maws, disgorging shapeless masses of quivering flesh that pull themselves up with pain-filled moans. “Destroy the invaders!” the Hellknight commands them.
Freed from their bonds, the goblins look at their hero, Nara (and pointedly ignore that other goblin who didn’t bother helping them). ”We’s help you, nice Lady Longshanks.” They begin gathering rocks, preparing to pelt the common enemies.
Suddenly one of the goblins shouts, ”Look out, Lady!” as he flings a handful of rocks at the nearest of the amorphous devils.
It doesn’t appear to hurt the devil at all, but some of the rocks put a tiny scratch in the remaining runes of the summoning circle.
Above the circle, the Hellknight reacts with impunity. ”More! Send us more that we may do His Infernal work,” he commands the circle, and another devil appears.
A Big ol’ Pile o’ Orts
Conditions:
BOLD May Act
Goblin Allies
Summoning Circle
Boomer
Jared
Green
Pusong
SiaoSiao
Nara
Durgok
Black
Blue
Yellow
Red
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Jared tries to recall weakness of Blue.
◆ Recall Knowledge to recall weakness of Blue (Arcana +8, Crafting +8, Elf Lore +8, Goblin Lore +8, Pathfinder Society Lore +8, Occultism +8, Society +8, Religion +0)
He then mixes chemicals to throw at the enemy.
◆ Quick Bomber with Far Lobber
vs Blue
acid damage, 1 acid splash damage (to target only)
He then raises his dueling cape
◆ Raise Dueling Cape (+1 circumstance bonus to AC)
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Jared hasn’t studied anything about these kinds of things. So he opts for the alternative to book learning - throw things and see what works. It hits, and he sees some of its unholy flesh burn away. Yep, acid seems to work.
Boomer follows suit, but discovers the opposite. His bomb easily hits Blue* but he notes that fire does not work at all.
It moves just a bit and the acid only grazes it’s shoulder.
Green emerges from behind the wall and trudges up to the nearest Pathfinder.
Nara easily dodges its clumsy swings, and her goblin minions allies sigh in relief.
A Big ol’ Pile o’ Orts
Conditions:
BOLD May Act
Goblin Allies
Summoning Circle
Boomer
Jared
Green
Pusong
SiaoSiao
Nara
Durgok
Black
Blue
Yellow
Red
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Pusong quickly draws his firearm. Noticing that the summoning circle can call forth more creatures but can take physical damage, he makes a decision. He reloads, steadies his aim, and fires directly into the circle, determined to shatter it before anything else can emerge.
Concussive, Fatal d12
Piercing
Precision
If Crit:
x 2 Piercing
x 2 Precision
Piercing
He then reloads and strategically chooses his next target.
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[dice=◆Strike: Shortsword]1d20+7
[dice=Slashing Damage]1d6+2
[dice=Sneak Attack]1d6
Nara hits the ort and moves to get behind the big, tough tank - Boomer. As she does so, she realizes that her sword just scratched the ort’s weird bloby skin.
SiaoSiao calls for Teki’s aid and the goddess delivers a blessing for everyone.
Pusong shoots into the circle. His shot goes right through the Hellknight’s illusory face evincing a snarl of displeasure before it scratches out some of the runes as it ricochets into the wall beyond.
A Big ol’ Pile o’ Orts
Conditions: Don’t forget it!
BOLD May Act
Goblin Allies
Summoning Circle
Boomer
Jared
Green
Pusong
SiaoSiao
Nara
Durgok
Black
Blue
Yellow
Red
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Durgok moves to get between the ort and his allies and puts a clean gash into it.
Blue moves as far as it can into the corner and attacks Boomer
Red finds a hole to swing at Durgok, Black does the same and targets Jared, and Yellow is left without a dance partner.
Better prepared now, the goblins throw many more stones and manage to hit all four of the bunched up orts.
Although most of them are caught full on by the rocks, the assault seems to do nearly nothing as the rocks just bounce off their hides.
The circle pulses with crimson Hellfire and another ort emerges.
A Big ol’ Pile o’ Orts
Conditions: Don’t forget it!
BOLD May Act
Goblin Allies
Summoning Circle
Boomer
Jared
Green
Pusong
SiaoSiao
Nara
Durgok
Black
Blue
Yellow
Red
Purple
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Boomer’s bomb splashes into the middle of the pile of orts. Two dodge it some, pushing the other two into the spray.
Jared’s bomb hits his target and splashes a bit onto the rest of the orts also.
Green sees no reason to do anything than follow orders, so it just pummels Durgok.
Lucky for Durgok all three attacks miss, but the odds aren’t looking good with 2 more orts ready to follow suit.
A Big ol’ Pile o’ Orts
Conditions: Don’t forget it!
BOLD May Act
Goblin Allies
Summoning Circle
Boomer
Jared
Green
Pusong
SiaoSiao
Nara
Durgok
Black
Blue
Yellow
Red
Purple
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Pusong once again aims at the summoning circle in the hopes of destroying it and stopping it from summoning more orts.
Concussive, Fatal d12
Piercing
Precision
If Crit:
x 2 Piercing
x 2 Precision
Piercing
Afterwards, he quickly reloads but this time, he decides to take down the bloodied Black Ort.
Concussive, Fatal d12
Piercing
Precision
If Crit:
x 2 Piercing
x 2 Precision
Piercing
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SiaoSiao helps Nara with a little blessing from Teki. Durgok manages to put one ort down and steps back into the line of Pathfinders.
Pusong takes a deep breath and lines up the shot. The bullet scratches out the containing line, ricochets off the wall and smashes into a line of script obscuring the text with molten lead. Another ort emerges just as the portal to Hell closes with a loud {SNAP}. The hum and crackle of the circle is gone. In the silence, the illusory projection of the Hellknight screams in anger and commands the orts to kill everyone! Then he turns to someone where he is and informs them that the circle is broken and to send reinforcements to the catacombs immediately.
The goblins meanwhile cheer for their new hero, Pusong!
The Sniper keeps his cool, reloads and fires again, catching the Black one in the arm but not dropping it.
A Big ol’ Pile o’ Orts
Conditions: Don’t forget it!
BOLD May Act
Goblin Allies
Summoning Circle
Boomer
Jared
Green
Pusong
SiaoSiao
Nara
Durgok
Black
Blue
Yellow
Red
Purple
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Nara dashes forward and only because of the magic on her weapon plus the extra blessing of Teki does she hit. The blade does just enough damage to send that one back to Hell.
However, as Nara moves away to hide behind the healer, she and everyone else notes that the orts are just standing around. The illusory Hellknight continues yelling at them to attack until turning again to someone outside of your view. You hear half a conversation about why the orts are not responding, until finally the Hellknight turns back to you. ”Pathfinders, you may have won this skirmish, but you cannot win the war. Hell is on our side.” With that, the illusion ends and the orts just wander off.
Chief Helba rushes out to her tribe. They chase the orts into a crypt at the back of the catacombs and bar the door. ”Blob monsters no hurt anyone now. We kill them all later. Figure out if they eatable.”
The other goblins gather around Nara and Pusong (and SiaoSiao… and really everyone) singing their praises in goblin song. Knowing that reinforcements are on their way lends a bit of urgency to the situation, and the Pathfinders are finally able to extricate themselves and lead the Bumblebrashers out and back to safety.
The Pathfinders and their goblin friends return to Breachill through the tunnel. Fighting in the city has largely concluded, with some Eagle Knights holding prisoners in detention while others work to get fires under control and help the citizens of Breachill recover their belongings from ruined homes. Because you and the other Pathfinders teams were so successful in guiding civilians to safety, the non-combatant casualties were thankfully few. Reaching Monument Circle, Warbal Bumblebrasher enthusiastically greets Chief Helba and the other goblins.
A concerned Venture-Captain Brackett greets you at the edge of the public space. “I was worried we’d lost you all with how long you took to get back. Thankfully the battle has gone well. The Hellknights were waiting for something, reinforcements perhaps, and that gave us an opportunity. What have you been doing?” After getting your debriefing about the summoning circle and the near encounter with the Hellknight commanders, Brackett rubs his hand across his face to gather his thoughts. “Well, my instructions to not put yourselves in danger weren’t heeded, so we’ll have to talk about that. But well done, Pathfinders. You saved many lives and may have saved our chance at victory here.
"This talk of spies and schemes though. I need to get word back to the Grand Lodge. This plot is far bigger than we’d ever thought to fear. This battle could engulf the entire Inner Sea before it ends.”