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Dwarven: "Your Majesty, we would welcome your aid. Might my comrade Aerel Truthseeker have the honor of bearing the vessel that carries you? He does not yet speak the tongue of the Dwarves, but your guidance to him would help us succeed in our quest. Do you speak the language of Taldor?"
"If not, or if you would rather travel with a dwarf, then we have a dwarf among us."
Dwarven: "Your Majesty, will you accompany us? Your knowledge of the Stone Road, the Onyx Key, the Onyx Citadel, and the Sardonyx Shard could be invaluable to us. With your advice, we may restore the Onyx Key to the realm of Kraggodan.
We could take this bottle along with us. We will not take you from your place of rest if you do not wish. But as my friend Grum says - yes, this mighty orc has proven himself not only an honorable warrior but even at times a font of wisdom - Magrim may accept you into death if you atone through action. And should we find a way to enable your spirit to pass on and join those of your ancestors, we will do so."
"What, so I don't get to kill General Azaersi myself?"
"I guess Grum's approach would be tactically sound if we could make it work."
Dwarven: "Your Majesty, we will retrieve the Onyx Key. Would you have us bring any word of you back to the dwarves of Kraggodan? And, uh, begging your pardon for my questions, but what do you know of that glass bottle with blue smoke? It is on one of the sarcophagi in this room."
"Perhaps that will be the case, Grum, but I have a feeling that we will need to be the ones to kill the hobgoblins. Which is fine with me." Benedict translates what the King says, then walks over to examine the small bottle.
Dwarven:
"Your Majesty, we will track down these thieves. We did find, in the Valley of Aloi, letters in a Hobgoblin command post indicating that the Ironfang Legion is using the Onyx Citadel as the base from which to launch its attacks. So if that is their base, would we would need the Sardonyx Shard to get there? Or the Onyx Key? Or both? Whatever the case, we will find these thieves - the same force as that behind the attack on my country - and make them pay." He translates what he said for the party (everyone feel free to read the spoilers). "William, what do you make of that bottle with the blue smoke?"
Are we still doing XP, or are we doing milestone leveling?
The gug ghost we didn't defeat, so I don't expect anything there.
"The Enthroned King says that a snake being spoke with him about the Onyx Key. My guess is that this was the Ironfangs' naga, Zanathura. The one whose journal we found."
"What we slew in the morlock caves, that crumbled into ice and snow, was described by the morlock shaman as 'a shadow of the real Zanathura'." As the shaman said here Dwarven:
"Your Majesty, we believe that snake being was a naga named Zanathura, who is one of the leaders of the army of hobgoblins and others that attacked my homeland. I believe her outward respect was a ploy to deceive you. I swear that we will destroy her for this treachery." "Is there anything else we should ask of this Enthroned King? He saw no theft, no medusa, and no other spirits."
Benedict will listen carefully to any replies, keeping his wits about him just in case the spirit is attempting to deceive him.
Dwarven:
"With your pardon, Your Majesty, I will translate your words into a language of humans so that my comrades may understand." He addresses the party. "The spirit is the Enthroned King. He ruled a long time ago, before the Synod. I will ask him about the theft of the Onyx Key, about ghosts, and about medusas. And offer our help if he needs it." Then back to addressing the disembodied Dwarven voice. Dwarven: "Your Majesty, my name is Benedict. These others are Grum, Aerel, William, and Haela. We are investigating the theft of the Onyx Key from this Reliquary.
May I humbly request your assistance with our investigation? I have three questions. First, did you witness the theft of the Onyx Key? Second, can you tell us of other spirits present in this place? We believe there may be one or more ghosts. Third, have you seen a medusa in this place? If there is a service that we can do for you, name it. If something prevents your spirit from resting, perhaps we can assist."
Benedict looks around the chamber and addresses the disembodied voice. Dwarven:
"Pardon our intrusion, noble elder of the realm of Kraggodan. We have been tasked by the Evenhanded Synod with investigating the theft of a great Dwarven relic, the Onyx Key, from this Reliquary. An army of hobgoblins now has the Onyx Key, and with it, control of the Stone Road. They have overrun our lands. It has been our great pleasure, during this course of this investigation, to cleanse the Reliquary of the Gugs that had infested it.
How may I address you, noble elder? I myself was not born to the Dwarven race, as you can see, though I learned the ways of war from this daughter of Kraggodan, Haela Sturm." He indicates the Drill Sergeant next to him.
If Take 10 not possible:
"Yeah, I think William might be right. More likely guardian golems than works of art. Haela, be ready to use that Sigil of Kraggodan if needed to be unseen by any golems." Benedict takes a look around the room. Is there any writing anywhere? Anything else of note?
Sorry to hear that, William! Best wishes for a complete recovery. Aerel - I would be happy to make up a couple of reasonable PFS 5th-level PCs over the next few days.
Benedict slams his fist against the Gug-statue in frustration. "As I said... I hate not knowing what we are up against. Maybe everyone who was turned to stone by the medusa is now present as a ghost? But then why would the dwarf's spirit lie to us? Was that spirit an illusion from a nearby spellcaster? And this Gug ghost too, with a fear spell? There's a lot I don't know about how magic works. And I don't know that much about ghosts and their abilities either. When we head back to Kraggodan, we can ask Karburtin what he makes of our foe based on the evidence we have. We can get equipment to battle ghosts, or use the Manual of War to train to fight them. We can also pick up equipment to battle medusas; whatever is making the ghosts appear, recall that Bellachal Dergik was petrified not that long ago, so the medusa is probably still here. But first let's see what is in this room." He waits for Aerel to finish with the door.
"What are we dealing with??"
"Let's stick together." The hall is wide enough for three abreast. If Aerel needs to be in front to search for traps, he can have Benedict and Grum right next to him, with Haela behind for Tactician and William behind for spells and archery.
"I wasn't looking to restore the human for his own sake, but rather for information, like Aerel suggested. Especially about what petrified him. Information is power and I don't like not knowing what we are up against. But if you want to press on, I will. At least we have some resources to protect ourselves." Benedict puts on the Lidless Charm Bracelet.
"Aerel, your keen eyes could work against you if there is a medusa, so I don't think having you scout ahead is best at this time. If we stick together, you can benefit from Haela's tactics."
Once whoever wants it takes the Amulet, Benedict opens the doors to the south.
"We do have one use of Stone Salve. It can restore someone who was petrified. I might want to save it to use on one of us... but then, maybe we can exit the Reliquary and come back in again supplied with more. Or with other items that protect against petrification." "We now can establish that the dwarf wasn't petrified centuries ago, and so the apparent spirit was lying to us. The human... I guess we could try putting his remains together to see if a spirit appears and says something. Even if we have good reason to suspect that the 'spirit' may lie, there could be value in hearing what they have to say." "Reassembling the human means retracing our steps, bringing the legs back to the upper torso. Maybe we do that, see if we conjure a spirit, restore him, and then exit the Reliquary to resupply? We can bring Bellachal Dirgek's statue on our way out and maybe the dwarves can restore her. It should weigh... what, three times what she weighed in life? Maybe two of us working together, then."
"I can't read the scroll, Grum. We need you to do it. Does that message sound good to you? I believe the spell has a strict word count so there's no time for small talk. But Karburtin knows you. I bet he'll answer."
"Okay, we've got 25 words, and Karburtin can send a response? Well, how about something like this: 'Gugs defeated. Still investigating. Alleged spirit of petrified Bellachal Dirgek claims medusa attacked centuries ago. Did prior investigators see her? Are petrified beings truly dead?' Any suggestions? The petrified dwarf right near the entrance is something that the other investigators should have found. If they didn't, then I think the 'spirit' was lying to us about the length of time that petrified dwarf has been there. And if petrified beings aren't dead, then that was not her spirit we saw but rather some kind of trick. I guess a petrified being could maybe manifest an apparition if the being had been a psychic or something like that, but I think it might have been an illusion from a hidden spellcaster nearby."
"You're right, Aerel. It's suspicious. The dwarves believed the Molthuni to be behind the theft of the Onyx Key. But we know the Ironfang Legion ended up with it and have taken control of the Stone Road to move their troops. So was a human Molthuni thief involved?Then there was also the dwarf petrified when we first entered the Reliquary. Bellachal Dergik. She said it was 'a medusa, long ago'... saying that maybe centuries had passed... and yet the dwarves of Kraggodan had sent investigators before us into the Reliquary to investigate the break-in. They told us about the gugs but made no mention of a petrified dwarf or her ghost. And if this human was petrified relatively recently - if he was associated with the break-in - then at least a medusa is still around after centuries. I don't think it quite adds up. Something is off. But I am reluctant to expend our very limited de-petrifying magic for the sake of getting answers." Suddenly his face lights up.
While the group plans on using Grum's teleportation to avoid the spike stones, they notice the small chamber to the east is lit by bronze sconces. The room is bare except for the upper torso of a statue of a young human man. His face would be handsome if it were not contorted into a terrified expression. "I think there may be a complete petrified person. A human, though; not a dwarf."
"What about the petrified torso and legs? Should we put those together and try to restore them?
"Yeah, I think you're right, Aerel. Maybe this is some kind of shrine within the tomb." Benedict looks around uncertainly.
"Okay, Aerel, I think we can continue. Lead on."
Benedict drinks a healing potion.
Benedict shrugs. "No better options that I saw - that worm was going to get somebody. That was a pretty miraculous escape that you made.
"But let's get you healed up. Haela, can you help Aerel?"
Benedict crawls up the worm's gullet and out of its maw. He is badly hurt, but still breathing. "Just as planned..." "Thank you, Aerel, Grum, William, Haela. I owe you my life yet again."
Just like the Behir... Benedict stabs furiously with his dagger as he is swallowed, hoping to do enough damage to the beast's gullet that he either cuts his way out or is vomited out.
"I've got its attention!"
Benedict takes Total Defense, and moves up drawing his dagger in his buckler hand. He tries to do his best to draw the worm's attention while avoiding its attacks. He was previously swallowed by a Behir and hopes to not repeat the experience, but he has the dagger in hand should it come to that.
Benedict and Haela move to guard William. Haela takes a single move, uses Total Defense, and enters Dwarven Hatred Style. She is AC 35, or 37 vs evil foes, and if she is hit she will apply Dwarven Seething as an immediate action for +4 AC vs that foe until she changes foes. Benedict takes a single move and uses Total Defense. He is AC 37, or 39 vs evil foes.
Benedict and Haela wait to see what Aerel does.
Benedict searches the room for anything of interest.
"Finish it, Grum and Aerel!"
Benedict finally gives up on defense and goes all-out in attacking the Gug.
Only his first attack is a good swing.
Benedict moves up and attacks, fighting cautiously
Haela moves up and attacks
Once they are in position, their defenses are better. AC 37 for Benedict (+4 CE, +2 Lastwall Phalanx) and AC 33 for Haela (+2 Lastwall Phalanx, but another +4 to 37 if it has hit her at least once).
Benedict decides that the best offense is a good defense, to allow the archers to continue their work.
Benedict and Haela both move up and use Total Defense, hoping that they can blunt the Gugs' attacks.
Haela also enters Dwarven Hatred Style. If a foe hits her, she will use an immediate action to apply her Defensive Training against it for another +4 dodge bonus to AC that lasts until she designates a new opponent.
"I had thought of Fireball because it can spread and affect foes out of sight to a degree. Start the fight before they can see us and lure them out of that room."
"But I'll do whatever. Your plan sounds good, Aerel."
Benedict sighs and sounds less than enthusiastic.
Benedict nods. "Okay. Maybe we get set up in a formation and then William uses the staff to throw a Fireball or Wall of Fire in there?"
Benedict will hand the Golembane Scarab to William.
Benedict hands the +1 Construct-Bane Adamantine Battleaxe to Haela, and she takes it in hand.
"We know that the Ironfang Legion infiltrated this place to steal from the dwarves. That could explain hobgoblins. As to the human faces... I'm not sure. Those stone legs here in the mausoleum might match up with the human torso that we saw in the room to the southeast." "When the Spike Stones end we can try to bring the legs to the torso and head."
Do the legs appear to be of Dwarven dimensions? Something taller like a hobgoblin? "Perhaps we will find the rest of this figure elsewhere.
"I speak and read Undercommon, Aerel. I will take a look.
Benedict approaches to read the script.
What we really lack is the ability to solve challenges like those Spike Stones. I guess I was thinking that if we were higher level we'd have had more options there (for example, William might have Dispel Magic). But in terms of sheer damage output we are hard to beat. And Benedict's AC has been for a couple of levels now where I think a fighter should be (20+level), but before Longshadow it was pretty poor. So I see the point and I suppose we can just keep going as we are. As to Haela's feat: Yes, the limit is removed, and no, it doesn't take an hour.
Benefit(s): You can use the Heal skill to treat deadly wounds as a full-round action. You do not take a penalty for not using a healer’s kit when treating deadly wounds this way, and you can do so on a given creature more than once per day. When treating deadly wounds this way, if your result exceeds the DC by 10 or more, add your ranks in Knowledge (planes) to the damage healed. These benefits do not apply to creatures that are not healed by positive energy. It is a pretty weak and inconsistent ability at low levels but it ramps up with Signature Skill (Heal).
I hate to ask this, but it has been on my mind for a while. When we get the XP for the Gugs, are we going to split it 5 ways? Amkarang has been largely absent for a long time now. 7 posts in the past 12 months (and 1 round of combat). We have been splitting the XP 5 ways while being functionally a 4-PC party most of the time. Could we just switch to milestone leveling, be at the AP recommendation for levels at this part of Book 4, and do away with the random encounters? Our pace has slowed, so I think the random encounters would be better omitted, and they are really the only reason why tracked XP has any value over milestone. I don't want Amkarang to leave the game, but I also don't like the XP drain of a frequently-absent PC. If the player's circumstances change such that he can rejoin us I would welcome it.
Benedict follows Grum, stepping up to continue Smiting the caster.
Benedict is AC 35 against the Gug caster with no turtling up (net +3 deflection and +1 sacred at the moment). Grum is AC 31 right now.
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