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With a handshake, Sulianna gifts the power to Nylthe. Considering the nature of the circle holding him, this spell easily sends the sulking Koth'Vaul back, though with threatening "I will be back for vengance..." before he's returned to the Abyss. At this point, Sulianna turns her attention onto Kalkamedes. After a couple minutes, he startles awake. "That should take care of the garbled mess that my call for help became," she says, "Shall we get out of this abattoir and back to the outside world?" ------ The hike back to Kalkamedes' cabin is blissfully uneventful. Sulianna accompanies the party back to the cabin for departing for Elysium, but not before thanking you all yet again, and offering a favor for your assistance. Kalkamedes, now that he's actually awake, is a very genial man, especially once his gear is returned to him. Of interesting note, his sword, which was quiet throughout the trip, is apparently sentient, as he introduces himself as Gamin once he's back in Kalkamedes's hands. Upon returning, Both Kalkamedes and Venture-Captain Heidmarch are thankful for your work, and after some discussion with his blade, the former paladin is willing to offer his blade to anyone interested in the weapon. -------------
Okay, this scenario is basically over, and I'll finish it up with the next post. If you wish to make a Day Job roll (I have one for Nylthe, unless you want to GM reroll it), do it now, so I can throw up the chronicles. That said, I have no interest in running another scenario at all, and considering my poor posting habits, I wouldn't blame you if you felt the same way about me running. Does someone else wish the lead from here?
After about a couple minutes of scraping at the stone and metal of the floor with claw, horn, and (after a brief search) other implements of destruction, the power of the circle finally shatters. The Azata breathes a sigh of relief before she slowly stands. "Thank you all. My name is Sulianna and I owe you a debt of gratitude," she says, still a little wobbly. "I came here to finish off a great evil, but I'm still exhausted from this ordeal." She offers her hand toward the group. "However, I can offer you the use of some of my power for a moment, for a spell at least banish Koth'Vaul." [ooc]It's literally a casting of banishment she's offering.[/b]
Cracking open the sealed pots, Ilathor finds a scabbard, an vial with a reddish liquid, several finely cut pieces of amber, and a silver headband with a phylactery attached to the chains.
While well-made, this circle is somewhat old. Like most permanent wardings of this style, just cracking the physical circle should do the trick. It is silver etching on stone, so it'll take some effort, but that should work.
The Iron band is magical actually. You'd assume it's a variation of a hat of disguise. Likewise, after spending some time focusing on the stagnant water, You'd find 3 points of interest in the 5 foot deep pool. Assuming that you'd willing to wade in, You find a greataxe that's stood the eroding power of time and water, and 2 wax-sealed pots( along with quite a few bones, and a heap of coins tarnished beyond use) "That's how my plea ended up?" She responses, sounding a little upset at the implications. "The glabrezu must have blocked my attempt enough that it only clung to his sleeping mind. He was much more potent then I thought, with the dragon zombie he had in thrall. I was barely able to escape to these wards, after trying to vanquish him for several days." After a moment's thought to Nylthe's question, she replies, "The circles aren't connected, so you should be able to break the one I'm trapped in without affecting his at all."
[spoiler=Lebraerio]Azatas are the free spirits of the good outsiders. They tend to travel regularly and fully espouse the virtues of free will and joy. Most of the time, they tend to stay out of the affairs of mortals, tending to advise mortals. They also tend not to involve themselves in long services, preferring to get a job done swiftly and move on. Ghaele Atazas in particular tend to be the more 'knightly' of the azatas. They tend to hunt fiends, dragons and undead with equal vigor. Bewteen the wand and the extract, the ghaele azata slowly flickers into consciousness. As she slowly pulls herself into a sitting position, she groans faintly before looking up at Kalkamedes, still in his nocturnal fugue. "So, My call for help was finally answered? Elysium be praised." Going over the dragon isn't as soothing as Ilathor expects it. The hide feels desiccated and almost smooth to the touch. The reason for that, however is easily discovered, as when the iron band around a horn is pulled away, the illusion cloaking the the now-obviously long dead corpse is broken. The bones seem gnarled and misshapen, and they stick though what was left of the flesh in several places. The remains are more zombie then dragon.
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Bringing your attention to Kalkamedes and the woman that he stopped above, you find that she's in another set of the warding that he has just walked into. She appears to be a very beautiful elven woman with somewhat heavy wounds. She's also unconscious and lying collapsed within the circle. Juis: Now that you've gotten a good look at this woman, you're almost positive that she's not human, or even humanoid. In fact, You'd guess she's actually a Ghaele Azata. Considering the binding circles that she collapsed in, She's probably as trapped as Koth'Vaul is, and these wards are stronger.
Ilathor's comments come at just a moment too late, as the shadow hound's fang and claw finally cause it to stop moving. With Ilathor's magic missiles dealing with the last claw, the cavern falls quiet, save for the fuming from Koth'Vaul.
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Juis finishes off the claw that was harassing Lebraerio. However, the dragon shoulder checks Juis, before chomping down hard on Aconite. It's tail barely misses Wilen as well, as he roars again. Round 4
Aconite attacks:
GM screen:
While, Ilathor and Aconite do further damage to the dragon, the beast is still flailing about. Wilen's second bomb is about as effective as the first, however. It's like the fire doesn't effect him that much. Likewise, Nylthe's swings at the claw come up empty. Meanwhile, the claws continue to harass the party. While, the one on Juis misses entirely, the one on Nylthe gets purchase on her, and begins holding onto the summoner, tearing some into her. Round 4
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While Lebraerio damages the claw trying to tear into him and back into Juis's healing skill, The dragon Illvaster, steps forward to press the attack. He tries to bite Aconite and sweep Juis of his flank with his tail, but the only attack that connects is by shoudler-checking Lebraerio, knocking the wind out of him. Round 3
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Aconite tears into the dragon, fang, horn and claw alike. Koth'Vaul is singularly unimpressed with Wilen's fire bomb, as he brushes away most of the damage. And Kalkamedes continues to forward into the other circle, stopping next to the other figure. However, upon entering the circle, the claw that was assualting him completely loses track of him, and crawls back to the larger fight, reaching Nylthe. The other claw tears more into Lebraerio, but fails to cling to onto him. Round 3
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Both Juis and Lebraerio try to deal with the Claw on Lebraerio to no avail. The Dragon, however, moves forward and chomps down on Lebraerio this time, drawing blood from the detective. Round 2
GM screen:
Ilathor:
Okay, You recognize the claws as an advanced form of Crawling Hands, an type of undead that while easy to kill, some variants are known to grab a hold on folks, climb them and strangle the unwary.
While the dragon looks like a young adult black dragon, which should mop the floor with you all. Spell Resistance, darkness at will, breath weapon of acid, freightful presence: The works. However, something's off. It's moving a little funny, and that bite should have triggered a instinctual terror in all of you, but it didn't.
Aconite misses with the first couple attacks, before finally gaining purchase, and tears the waterlogged dead flash apart with claw and horn. As Wilen watches from afar, and Ilathor fades from view, Kalkamedes mindlessly continues his trek to the far end of the chamber, 'chased' by one of the hands, which gets a hold of his leg and claws it up a bit, while the other remaining claw tries to attack Lebraerio, but fails to get past his armor. Round 2
GM screen:
Lebraerio swings wildly at the hand, but it clangs on the ground behind it, while Juis begins to buff the party. The dragon, meanwhile, moves to the closest target, Ilathor, and reaches forward to give the arcanist a rather powerful bite. Round 1
Crawling Claws
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Koth'vaul takes the poking of holes in his story... rather poorly. His face contorts in fury before he spits out, "Fine! Illvaster! End these pests! Time will free me just as easily!" In response, a bubbling begins from the pool in the other corner of the cave, from which swiftly emerges a dragon in the size of a horse, it's black scales still glistening from the stagnant water that it arises from and an iron band on one of it's horns. Following close behind the dragon are a trio of what look to be undead claws of some sort, which scatter toward the 3 closest figures: Aconite, Ilathor, and Kalkamedes(who continued his stumble toward the figure lying on the floor). Round 1
Crawling Claws
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"Brings me? I'm been trapped here,"the gnome replies, almost indignantly, before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I've been here for hundreds of years and the immediate suspicion was a little much for me to bear. My name is Koth'Vaul, and I'm desperately hoping that you can let me out of this cave." "You see, I was an adventurer, until the Thrallkeepers that maintained this Black Ediface imprisioned me in this circle, in order to power the arcane energies here with my fey essences. And while they've died off, the power they used in their workings hasn't. The bonds have kept me young, but they are still bonds. I'd like to just leave, and die on my own terms." For his part, Kalkamedes's attention is not on the gnome, but a second circle deeper in the cavern, where from here, a figure lies. Upon seeing Kalkamedes, Koth'Vaul genuinely smiles. "Is that? No, it can't... He'd be gone long dead, but your friend there looks like the splitting image of my friend Johanis. He was able to escape, but promised to send help. I guess his oath followed down his family line, and he finally answered the call of his ancestor..." He pauses a moment to seemingly to do some mental math, "... ten generations hence, I believe?" Ilathor:
Things aren't adding up here. First of all, you recognize a magic circle for containing outsiders. Judging by the elements in the circle, you'd bet the warding is for something chaotic, evil, or possibly both. However, you're also aware that this circle is slowly losing its power(after who knows exactly how long, but you'd guess minimum thousands of year.) Secondly, The name 'Koth'Vaul' has roots in Abyssal, making it a very odd name for a gnome. Speaking of that, You're aware of the gnomish phenomenon known as the Bleaching, which afflicts any gnome that doesn't seek out new experiences and sensations. Being trapped here should have forced some evidence of that, but he seems completely healthy. Finally, His timeline is really off. The Thrallkeepers were Thassilonian, which disappeared thousands of years ago, making it impossible for Kalkamedes to be a mere 10 generations from this Johanis.
Lebraerio:
Things aren't adding up here. First of all, The name 'Koth'Vaul' has roots in Abyssal, making it a very odd name for a gnome. Speaking of that, You're aware of the gnomish phenomenon known as the Bleaching, which afflicts any gnome that doesn't seek out new experiences and sensations. Being trapped here should have forced some evidence of that, but he seems completely healthy. Finally, His timeline is really off. The Thrallkeepers were Thassilonian, which disappeared thousands of years ago, making it impossible for Kalkamedes to be a mere 10 generations from this Johanis. Juis:
You recognize a magic for containing outsiders. Judging by the elements in the circle, you'd bet the warding is for something chaotic, evil, or possibly both. However, you're also aware that this circle is slowly losing its power(after who knows exactly how long, but you'd guess minimum thousands of year.) Secondly, The name 'Koth'Vaul' has roots in Abyssal, making it a very odd name for a gnome. Finally, His timeline is really off. The Thrallkeepers were Thassilonian, which disappeared thousands of years ago, making it impossible for Kalkamedes to be a mere 10 generations from this Johanis. Nylthe:
You don't know much about what he's saying and he seems on the level, but you recognize a magic for containing outsiders when you see one. You're also aware that this circle is slowly losing its power(after who knows exactly how long, but you'd guess minimum thousands of year.) Wilen: You don't know much about what he's saying and he seems on the level, but you recognize a magic for containing outsiders when you see one. Judging by the elements in the circle, you'd bet the warding is for something chaotic, evil, or possibly both. However, you're also aware that this circle is slowly losing its power(after who knows exactly how long, but you'd guess minimum thousands of year.)
GM screen:
Juis holds Kalkamedes at bay for just long enough for the first four passengers to climb into the cage and for the mechanism to begin the lengthy descent into the darkened pit. Reaching the bottom, the advance party finds another mechanism for operating the lift, as well as a passage leading to the south with a greenish glow coming from it. Heading down the passage leading a large cavern which seems natural. Palm-sized shards of jagged steel jut from halfway up the walls of this large cavern, bathing the cavern with a dark green light. A set of natural rock columns support the chamber’s ceiling, which rises to a height of twenty feet. A small tunnel leads to the northeast, and several rounded alcoves branch off from the main cavern. A quick study of the space, however, marks that almost every surface is scarred with a great many claw marks. However, the greatest interest to everyone is the inscribed magic circle to the south of the passageway into the chamber. Within said circle is a disheveled pink-haired gnome, who immediately reacts to try and get your attention. "Hello there!" he cries out.
After several moments of effort by the entire group, the massive iron doors finally give way and creak open slowly, leading to an long-unused corridor. Suspended by thick chains, a massive metal cage shaped like a demon’s head hangs over a dark shaft with no bottom in sight. The cage’s door—by all appearances a menacing maw, filled with incisor-like fangs—hangs open to the west. There, a narrow bridge spans the short distance between the ledge and the cage. A small console on the north edge of the bridge bears a single lever. Kalkamedes moves to climb into the cage, which by appearances, seems like it could hold four people into whatever depths it travels too.
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Kalkamedes' effort also assists in trying to open the door. However, The door is still holding fast, but the give you're looking for is just within reach.
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While Ilathor's strength in this situation is quite useful, the iron doors are incredibly heavy, and resist that attempt to open them, even with Kalkamedes's 'help'.
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Wilen goes to assist with pushing on the door with Kalkamedes, But the doors are incredibly heavy, and the pair just aren't enough to shoulder the door open on the first attempt.
While the statue and the text is not magical, the wand (which is easily removable) is. With a couple moments of study, Ilathor is able to ascertain that it's a wand of Ray of Enfeeblement. To Wilen, the door doesn't look trapped or anything beyond being incredibly heavy. However, stepping onto the black stone dais, Wilen actually feels.... stronger then normal.
Speeding ahead of Kalkamedes, Wilen finds no traps at all in the hallway. After moving down this 100-foot hallway, it leads to a set of steep stairs that descend into a room, whose only other entrance is sealed by a massive set of iron double doors that block passage to the east and rest upon a dais of glistening black stone. To the west stands a statue of an elderly, robed man carved from the same dark stone, and in his hand, he brandishes a slender golden wand that points toward the door. Ancient script winds around the statue’s round base, and dried leaves, dirt, and small animal bones are scattered about the room. Linguistics, DC 20:
"Those that would dare believe they are strong enough to oppose us shall learn that their strength is their weakness and our weaknesses are our very strengths." Kalkamedes, for his part, turns and walks up onto the dais, and begins futilely pushing on the door. It's rather obvious that he doesn't have the strength to push these heavy doors open.
The last bandit looks at Wilen and Ilathor's actions with a terrified look on his face, before scrambling up and goes to run off. And at that, the night is silent again, save the sounds of the struggling sleepwalker.
Kalkamedes meanders northward for several hours before veering to the northeast. The light of the sinking moon washes the sub-alpine valley ahead in silvery light. A squat, stone bunker crafted of dark rock sits nestled among the low trees, its domed roof barely peeking out from above the leafy canopy. As a cloud passes over the moon, the entire structure seems to fade from view, leaving a momentary void before the moon’s light again illuminates it. Only a single entryway mars the smooth, windowless facade of the lone building. And Kalkamedes wanders directly for that entrance.
Linguistics, DC 20:
After a couple moments of study, the Thassilonian writing can be deciphered as Enter the Black Edifice, locus of the Thrallkeepers, servants of the Runelord of Sloth.
Between Lebraerio and Aconite's not-so-tender beatings, the bandit falls to the ground in a bloody pile. With Nylthe tripping one of the last 2 bandits, the last bandit looks at the mess and cries out, "Sod this!" before running off through the underbrush. The other bandit looks panicked, like he wants to bugger off as well. "We had a bad night, okay?!?" he blubbers, "And thought when we heard you we had an easy mark... Dear Gods, were we wrong!!" Round 4
GM Screen:
Wilen's bomb barely misses the bandit he tosses it at, crashing to the ground. However, Ilathor's force missiles drop the two bandits that he targets. In response, one of the remaining bandits takes a pasting shot at Juis, smacking him with the mace in hand, before disengaging from the oracle. Round 4
GM screen:
Nylthe and Juis both clock their attackers, while Lebraerio burns away a further chuck of the webbing as he chars the trees along with the pair of bandits. However, Aconite's swipe is fouled by the heavy brush that his prey is currently in. In response, the one uninjured one moves into the center of the fray, smacking Nythle with his mace in the process. One of the others takes advantage of his positioning, and scoots forward in the brush to take a swing at Juis, which glances off of his armor. The other one that Lebraerio lit up catches the detective with the sickle he's wielding for a reasonable wound, before retreating further in the woods. Round 3
GM screen:
Wilen's bomb lights up the sole bandit in the webbing, and stays lit as the webbing around him burns away, letting him collapse to the ground. As if in response, the bandit that stuck into the woods emerges in an attempt to attack Wilen, but swings horribly wide. Likewise, Ilathor's force missiles pepper the other visible bandit on his way to wildly swing( and miss) at Nylthe. Meanwhile, Kalkamedes continues to 'dangle' at the end of his rope, futilely struggling to go further.
Round 3
Aconite Rolls:
Aconite continues his assault on the the one that he already injured. Once he's down, the shadow hound turns his attention to the enemy next to him, but the 2 attacks on him scrape against armor. Juis's attack also connects, bruising the GM screen:
The two bandits in the front make valiant efforts, one attacking Aconite(Which is deflected by a plane of force), and the other against Juis(which glances off of his armor). The pair then duck back into the woods, and melt somewhat into the foliage. Likewise, one of the bandits trapped in Ilathor's webbing worms his way free, and also goes back into hiding in the woods.
Round 2
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Nylthe's attempt doesn't have the effect that she wish, though she keeps a hold of her whip as Lebraerio moves forward. The Bandit that Aconite injured slips out of the webbing, and maneuvers himself to give the other webbed bandit a flank to work with. The swing, however, glances off of the planes of force that surrounds the shadow Hound. Round 2
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Ilathor's web easily tangles the 3 bandits that are caught in it's threads. In response, the furthest bandits creep around the web in the thick underbrush, with one of them blending into the brush enough that you lose sight of him. For his part, Kalkamedes moves forward to the end of his lead, and futilely struggles against the rope. Round 2
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As Juis moves closer, Aconite snuffs out the tripped bandit, as 3 of the others move forward to try to deal with the hound. 1 slips back into the woods, whereas, the other 2 move to flank him. In spite of several good swings, Aconite avoids the blows. Round 1
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Lebraerio leashes the sleepwalker to a tree, as Nylthe slips forward and trips the closest bandit. Two more of the bandits move forward in an attempt to deal with the shadow hound, only for their attacks to be deflected off of the arcane force protecting him. Round 1
GM screen:
Aconite's sniffing about quickly finds the closest of the sources, being a lightly camouflaged bandit. However, that triggers the lot of them to emerge with a yell. One of them, faster then the others, artfully moves though the underbrush to come in on the Shadow Hound, and pierces his arcane protections... Or rather tries, as the shadows around him disguise him just enough from a wicked hit from the mace. Meanwhile, Kalkamedes, while initially delayed by Lebraerio, slowly pulls forward, though still not yet near the fray. Round 1
*sigh* I'm sorry that I've been zoning out far too much. Work has been beating the figurative crap out of me lately, so I haven't been in the right mindset for posting. Let me try to get back on track for this scenario, and afterwards, someone else with more motivation can start the next one hopefully.
GM Screen:
Even with Aconite's darkness cloaking the party, the one cub flails at Ilathor, to no avail. As the sleepwalking Pathfinder continues his trek and moves away from the bears, the cubs stay with their insensate mother. Over the course of another two hours, the rough, mountainous scrubland gradually flattens and gives way to thicker copses of trees sustained by a series of chilly, narrow streams. Kalkamedes’s trail meanders northward.
Wilen: You're positive that there's something in bushes up ahead, or rather at least 3-4 somethings. Probably more.
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While Aconite only connects twice, that's still enough to knock Mama for a loop. She loses her footing in the grease and collapses, though still shallowly breathing. Nylthe's whip cracking makes the cubs jump a little but they don't seem to react beyond that. However, Aconite, looking over at the one that's next to Mama, can tell that they're already scared, and the whip won't add much more. The cubs both move closer to their mom, and lash out at the closest target. The one attacking Ilathor connect again, in spite of the further wards, but Juis 's armor absorbs the blow meant for him. Meanwhile, Kalkamedes suddenly finds his lead taut again, and struggles with it, to little avail. Round 4
Gm Screen:
Mama Bear stumbles and falls as Aconite savages her. In reponse, she slowly gets back up on her feet, wildly swinging at Aconite, to no awhile to do the darkness. As for the cubs, One, started by the fire and its mom roaring in pain, dives into the darkness, all but running into Juis. It also takes a wild swing, this one at the thing that it ran into, but horribly misjudges the distance as well. The other cub, however, notices Ilathor. It runs up and bites the arcanist firmly, despite it's young age. For his part, being unimpeded, Kalkamedes continues on his merry way, completely ignoring the bears and the other pathfinders as he continues his trek. Round 3
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Lebraerio and Aconite swiftly pull Kalkamedes about 10 feet away from Mama Bear. Meanwhile, Ilathor's attempt to get out of the cloud of darkness is mostly negated by Aconite mostly following him in his forced 'guiding' of Kalkamedes. Wilen's attempt is more successful, as his backpedalling makes getting out the area easier. Mama Bear sniffs around more, and slowly (With some caution, thanks to Nylthe) creeps forward looking for one of the interlopers, and finding one: Juis. The Cubs, on the other hand, seem more antsy about the darkness, and avoid entering it but staying close to where Mama went. Kalkamedes, for his part, tries to break free from Aconite, but fails miserably this time. Round 1
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Mama bear roars as second time and seems about ready to charge just as the darkness drops. Instead, she snuffles forward, trying to track the new threat. Her children move to huddle close to mama, though. Kalkamedes, for his part, breaks free of the two men that were holding him, and begins his continued trek forward, coming perilously close to Mama bear. Round 1
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Kalkamedes becomes quite the slippery pain in the ass as Ilathor begins his magic spree. While Lebraerio and Nylthe get a hold of him several times, He's able to get a little up the wall before getting pulled back. Afterwards, the duel elevator does get everyone up the cliff over the course of a 1 minute. Kalkamedes immediately continues his oblivious walk on the canyon top, leading the party back into forested grounds, and eventually into an area laced with game trails among the mountain shrubs and berry bushes. As you work your way though the woodlands, The sounds of something large just up ahead roars and makes itself obvious. In the moonlight, you can see the shape of a grizzly bear, with two cubs.... and Kalkamedes is trying to walk right past them.
As Lebraerio predicted, Kalkamedes sleep-walks to the other side of the canyon, and begins to climb up the other side.
He looks around to see if there are any obvious paths down. No real paths down that you can see. If you would hazard a guess, the canyon's floor is about 100 feet down.
After a bit of wrangling by Nylthe(With assistance), the party is able to get Kalkamedes onto the disc, and Ilathor bolts across the water. Just as he clears the water on the other side, the sleepwalker breaks the enchantment placed on him, and he continues his journey forward. After a bit of time for the others to get across, the party can return to following their lurching charge. Kalkamedes’s path winds westward into a steep mountain pass that climbs several hundred feet. The surface levels out only to terminate fifty feet ahead with a precipitous drop into a thirty-foot wide canyon. |