Despite the scarcity of resource here in the depths of the desert, Flynn does manage to successfully hunt some form of burrowing rodent, enough for a meal at least.
Echoes seems to survey the environment with a detached air, Melo senses interest but there is some confusion and detachment. As Melo shifts in to his lion form, Echoes sniffs him head to toe and does an odd shimmering dance, claws flexing in the sand. Shaking its head, Melo gets the sensation of satisfied amusement before Echoes steps in to hunting formation with him.
Echoes is as yet unfamiliar with this terrain, however with time it will indeed be able to assist, for now Melo must bear the weight of foraging himself whilst his new companion learns the ways of this new land
After a brief lunch and rest in the midday sun under stretched out tent canvas, you continue at pace towards the direction of the fortress.
As twilight draws in, the sky above you is as clear as glass, the stars in the sky bright against the gathering night. It's then you hear it, low thrumming sound/sensation through the ground. It's coming from over the next dune.
Crouching and moving slowly, the group leave Aura under the watchful eye of Whisper as they edge closer to the cusp of the dune.
The desert opens up on to a plateua that seems to run for miles, and a few thousand meters away there is a giant rent in the earth, a giant crack where half the ground is missing. In the revealed valley, you recognise the top spire of the fortress you have been seeking, the potential source of being able to fight back against the cult. At last. Only... the noise...
and you can see now, now the sun has finally dipped below the horizon and taken its glare with it, the noise, the sensation of tremors through the ground... it's zombies, hundreds of zombies, they encircle the semi-buried building at a distance, as if an invisible barrier were holding them at bay.
They are far enough away that they won't notice you unless you draw attention to yourselves. You see the occasional large humanoid among them, but cannot at present see any cult members or other entities.
Out of time now but will provide a map soonish :)
Happy Thanksgiving American peoples :)
Wolf pipes up
So... where you planning on heading then? This old temple place? Plenty of ruins that way it's true, this place is littered with them.
He shudders
Some nasty noises came from some I been near, enough to put me off going to play amateur archaeologist on my own...
He takes a swig of water
We should be safe enough in here this night, but travel during the day and it's pretty hot remember. We could always travel morning and later afternoon, build a shelter during midday to wait out the worst of it? Anyway, that's a question for the morrow.
You manage an uneventful night's sleep, though your skin prickles with the remnant energies that suffused you not so many hours ago.
Right then, time to be up and at them...
yawns Wolf.
Perception checks from those keeping watch, survival from those foraging or navigating with the map!
Despite the rapidly disintegrating parchment, you are all able to see it was an annotated map. Lilith however somehow manages to leverage her natural awareness and harness the other magical foci she carries for such purposes.
The map was accompanies by a landscape sketch, a mesa in the desert with great cracks and rents in the earth, snaking their way through the ground. In the side of one of the cracks sits a familiar-looking structure... from the tapestries... the desert fortress of the Palatine Eye...
The map itself shows a great deal more grassland than you've seen, however it must be hundreds of years old. With Melo and Flynn providing pointers on the area, you are able to determine from some rough landmarks that the cracked earth, and the fortress, lie some three days walk to the east.
It is now fully dark, and at least for now you seem safe in your cave hideaway.
Feel free to continue RP, we'll fast-forward the night when you're ready.
Well we're in good company, at least 2 other campaigns I'm involved in have peeps losing posts and randomly being logged out *sigh* Still, 1st world problems eh!? ^.^
The map case opens with a hiss, and you see the thin parchment inside begin to shrivel, the ink on it fading in what scant illumination twilight still provides.
Quickly you try to commit the contents to memory...
Intelligence, perception or linguistics rolls please! Take 10 is ok, 20 not ok...
Lilith uses what magic she has remaining to seal the portals and doorways as the group returns to the surface.
Skyfall coos and chitters as Flynn reappears, butting his chest with her head and fluffing feathers. Whisper is tense underneath Flynn's spontaneous embrace, but after a few moments she does relax and even returns the gesture for a moment.
Aura glances around with a relieved smile
All came back, that's probably a record.
She shakes her head at Feldus
We heard some odd noises up on top of the canyon but stayed put, nothing has appeared apart from you.
Feldus has a scratch around and between he and Melo's quick impromptu search of the nearby area, locates a smaller cave that whilst self-contained, is deep enough to hide the group from at least casual scrutiny from the valley floor.
As Lilith scratches Echoes, it turns and fixes her with its attention, several colours under its skin cylcing rapidly, and she gets the scent of baked apples, with a strong association to the colour magenta impresses itself on her. Echoes turns its attention elsewhere and the sensations recede like they were never there.
Not sure if anyone else is stil being affected but I'm still getting random log outs and have lost posts that I had previously checked had been added >.<
Trying to catch up again now etc :s
Valex: Feldus is safe to wear the items, they are as they seem, not trapped or cursed etc
With the items removed from the armor stand, Valex sees and grabs a small map case marked with the Palatine Eye.
The set of rooms doesn't go any further into the rock, so it's a question of retracing your steps and heading back to the surface the way you came in.
Skyfall, Whisper and Aura are pleased to see you, the relief on their faces after your being away for some hours is readily evident. Wolf too smiles with relief.
It is getting dark, you are in the bottom of the canyon with caves on each side. Where will you camp for the night?
No drama Melo, I'm still peeved about the lack of access over the last week :/ Anyway, glad you're feeling better :)
Valex, Lilith and Lenneth do indeed surmise correctly that the blast was one of positive energy, and would have been deadly to any undead present in the area. As to its effect on Feldus, without the symbol itself to study, you are at a loss and must rely on supposition.
The air smells fresh to Melo, but he detects no other scents, the party is alone here.
Flynn reaches for the longsword, and as he heft it to test the weight, it shimmers slightly and fits in his hand better, resizing to fit the smaller warrior. The armour will do likewise.
Can't take 20 on things like trap-disarming, as taking 20 assumes you will fail before you will succeed, so the trap would automatically go off... :O
Valex reaches out to the wall, feeling the various energies and striving to find where the trigger and disarm points might be. Threading his fingers through a particularly complex weave, he finally feels the heart of the trap, and relief floods through him as he begins to divert the energy there so the trap cannot function... and then it slips his grasp like sand through a child's fingers...
*eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*
To those outside the room or able to duck in to cover...
There is a blinding flash of white light and you feel energy explode around you...
Those in the room
...your ears are ringing, you can only hear one tone... you open your eyes, then realise they are already open, but all you can see is white...
...your hearts hammer in your chests as a rush of energy fills you, your lifeforce thrumming...
Feldus is barely able to breathe, far from being relaxing, the energy is smothering and he finds it difficult to even draw breath let alone move... You are paralyzed for a few rounds..!
Everyone may heal to full health
The wall where the cache resides is somehow open, revealing a low doorway into a cubicle barely able to fit the armor stand that is its sole inventory. On the stand is a set of mithril chain armor, a cloak draped across its back. Tied to the chain with a scrap of leather is a ring, and a sheathed longsword is strapped across the back of the armor. A set of boots stands underneath, and lastly a staff lies propped against the stand. All the items have a familiar-looking eye symbol etched in to them.
Hi everyone, apologies for another quiet few days, serious web rage on the Paizo site front >:/
Back now, able to log in, posts up shortly!
And thank you Lenneth, Halloween was great :D
Happy Halloween everyone!
The demon is quiet as you move out of the room, though you hear it snarling in frustration and those of you sensitive to such things feel both its deep hatred and the flexing of arcane energies as it tries, fruitlessly, to push past the magic imprisoning it.
The cache in the other room is as you left it.
Is everyone taking cover whilst Valex opens the cache or is anyone staying with him?
Bah 3rd night trying and I've finally managed to get on the Paizo site without seeing the goblin/computer 'nostore' error!
Even now it's taking forever to load pages...
All good Flynn, enjoy your trip if that's an appropriate thing to say, not knowing what your work involves!
Hopefully will get a gameplay post up shortly :)
The figure looks up, and the twin burning amber flames of the demon's eyes gaze in to Flynn's
Nabasu... contained... dare we?..
a voice as cracked as old parchment echoes your words, alongside a hiss that might pass for humour.
Not to be trusted... should leave... nothing good...
It turns its head to look at Lenneth
How is it possible? Are you asking me the question Lady Shadow? I can and will answer it, for a price...
It then turns to Lilith and flashes its razor sharp teeth.
Now now, Lady Arcane, you assume you know of the compact that rought me here and yet how could you if you slew the only one who did? And do you even know how to release me? It seems you are without carrot or stick, what a spectacle for a mage hailing from Cheliax...
The fires of its eyes wink out and the room is suddenly darker.
The real question is, what do you want?
Religious paraphenalia involving Urgathoa is scattered across the room, and on one table the remains of a sumptuous feast has been left, slices of seeded bread and a chunk of strong cheese are among the few items of food left, though in the middle of the large plate is a piece of rotten flesh with maggots crawling over it.
Towards the back of the room there is a summoning circle, and within sits a humanoid, cross-legged. The humanoid is shrouded in shadow, however you get the sense despite its lack of movement that it is watching you.
The room remains dark despite your magical light moving closer in.
The hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you get the sense you aren't alone, the darkness in the room may be hiding something.
Hi all, apologies for the extended radio silence, with no notice had to fly up to Auckland last week to cover for a colleague and ended up with zero time to myself >.<
Back now and normal service will be resumed shortly!
Feldus takes his time, careful not to waste a single drop, and soon the acid is eating away at the delicate lock mechanism.
In under a minute, the smoking wreck of metal provides no further resistance to you.
The door opens on to another room, the dimensions seem similar to the one opposite, but your light spell doesn't illuminate it fully.
The door does not budge, the lock proving too complicated for the moment. It looks sturdy but might be able to be knocked down if several of you worked together, otherwise only bypassing the lock will do...
Lilith is able to discern with some surety that the only trap on the wall is magical, there does not appear to be a mechanical backup.
The room with the magically trapped piece of wall is the room with the furniture where the three robed figures were. There was an additional (closed) door opposite the well furnished room.
Upon examination, the door appears untrapped but locked. There are no noises beyond.
The wall flickers and a glowing glyph appears and disappears, however it does not otherwise respond to any of the phrases Valex uses.does not respond to.
The detect magic shows conjuration and abjuration auras on the wall.
Lilith checks around, and is sure that to the best of her ability to tell, the party is alone inside the network of rooms.
Valex decapitates the body with ease, though gets a not insignificant amount of blood on his clothes during the act.
Feldus is unable to smell anything beyond all those entities he is already aware of.
Echoes tenses under Melo's hand initialy, then relaxes somewhat and emits a high-pitched keening that you can only liken to a cat's meow, just ten times as painful to hear. Fortunately it seems content to be stroked without further sounds forthcoming.
The body has on it:
necklace of fireballs with 2 * level 4 and 1 * level 6 beads remaining
A polymorphic pouch (contains a small diamond worth 250 gp, a sorcerer's kit and three rations)
A bloodletting kukri
Yes Valex that's correct
Valex re-enters the room and begins looking over the wall and furniture for clues. Finally coming to a section of otherwise inconspicuous wall, he realises the mortar has tiny whorls and circles in that indicate something is behind the wall. He is also sure that the wall is magically trapped somehow. It likely requires a password or similar to bypass safely, or else someone could just literally try to get through and see what happaned.
The group's swordplay has never been in more sync than now, Flynn's sword blade combines with Valex and Feldus' blows, running the enemy through. Melo's strike causes it to collapse to the floor in a heap, unmoving. A growing puddle of blood appears underneath.
Combat over, Lenneth you can save your spell!
With enough clues for a rough guess from Feldus' actions, Lilith casts her spell and the area erupts with incandescent glowing dust. Echoes roars with confusion, but amid the blanket of glittering motes, you see a robed shape next to the door clawing at its eyes.
Players up!
Echoes suddenly turns and lunges at the air around one side of the doorway, but its jaws close on nothing, it whips its head around in frustration, evidently having detected something.
Back in combat rounds, players up!
Whilst the end point of the lightning bolt was within Lilith's view, she did not actually see a creature appear. Then again, she knows from her own arcane studies that if a creature is invisible, then it stays that way until it directly damages another being or the spell runs its course.
Melo and Echoes hunt around, but cannot detect the hidden enemy.
Feldus however gets a strong scent of must and mould, and is fairly certain the creature is hiding besides the doorway, outside in the corridor.
The rest of the party pile out in to the corridor, currently oblivious to the nearby presence of the insidious foe...
All robed figures are now no longer moving, inanimate, ex-undead.
Lenneth's barbed chains are impeccably accurate, but seem to do little damage to the robed figure.
Melo's club crushes the skull of the figure, and last of the necromantic energy animating it dissipates in a cloud.
Players up
Lilith and Valex's appraising eyes glance over the party's opponents, they seem to be Skeletal Champions of some sort, but lacking the usual arms and armor of such. Perhaps they have class levels?
What few distinct words and noises you were able to make out were essentially 'desire' and 'bad blood'.
Flynn's blade bites at the undead facing him, though some of the force of the blow seems turned aside by both its robe and the bones of its body, he still feels something crunch, his second blow causes bone fragments to shatter across the ancient carpet and it looks unsteady on its feet.
The creature facing Melo and Echoes is brought low in a flurry of club and claws, bones scatter across the floor.
Lenneth's chains reach out and bring the creature facing Flynn down prone. Feldus' spell holds the other in place.
Undead so immune to fear effects Lenneth
There is a flash of light, and an eruption of lightning appears on the top of the table in the centre of the room, flashing through the air past Feldus' nose and out the doorway.
Players up
Pesky Google, I thought I had done that but apparently not! Now sorted :)
Lilith understands the tones of the humming, it's necril, and about the only noise that these creatures can produce with what remains of their vocal chords. Definitely undead, but not casting a spell, it's more ritualised.
The droning is suddenly quieted as Lenneth completes her casting, though for all intents and purposes, the creatures continue pointing and do not move.
Valex notes that the entities did raise their arms in rough unison, but not in the precision mirror-like maner that might befit magic being used toduplicate appearance.
Flynn's mad rush forwards elicits no response, until he pulls the hood down, revealing a half-decayed skull with faintly glowing eyesockets. Its arms drop, narrowly missing the halfling, before it's fetid jaws close on his arm. Doing 4 damage.
The others also drop their limbs and lumber towards Flynn and Melo.
Please roll perception checks as a part of your posts please!
Ok after your resounding recommendation, first attempt with Google Slides is here!
>>> Map <<<
The figures appear to be really present in the room. Their features are shrouded, the best you can tell they are medium sized humanoids.
Each in turn raise their left arms, then point them at Feldus, then raise their right arms to point to Lilith.
They do not respond to being addressed, however they have started to hum quietly.
Valex finds no traps on the door, and Flynn shoves it open. Despite its size it seems to swing smoothly, the crash as it slams in to the stone wall behind it is almost deafening.
The room must once have been an impressive sight. Plush carpet now threadbare with the ages gives way to reading chairs and tables. Some paintings on the wall, most now slashed or scorched. One entire wall is made of glass, scratches and gouges show some damage but it is as unvanquished. Your lights slitter back at you and give you the impression there is water on the other side, but it is too dark to determine what else.
On the far side of the room, three robed figures stand and stare at you, their hooded visages hidden in darkness.
>>> Map<<<
Changed to Imgur (JZ I blame you!) as Flickr has finally pushed me too far!
Echoes stops and sniffs, turning and twisting its head in a whip-quick staccato fashion, it stares at the eastern door indicating the location of your quarry.
Ah my apologies! I meant Solace :)
Echoes pads off through the doorway in an odd gait, snout dipping every few moments.
Unlike the natural caves you came through to get to the chamber of black spheres, the stonework of this corridor is dressed, square-cut and mortared.
With the scant light provided by your magic, you see the corridor leads forward and opens out in to a larger hallway.
Tapestries line the walls, and in regularly spaced alcoves there are wooden display racks. A long time ago these may have held great treasures and wondrous artwork, but now there are just splintered armor stands and shattered clay fragments.
At the end of the corridor there are two large wooden doors opposite each other facing east and west.
Wisely checking the doorway, you discover a hastily-rigged tripwire linked to twin flasks of acid set above and ready to douse anyone moving through.
The writing on the urns turns out to be gibberish, and moments later you realise why, as the illusion fades, revealing a crumpled body in oddly-antiquated priest robes.
Echoes leads you deeper in to the cavern, and you pass more black spheres than you can easily count, there must be hundreds inside this one cavern. Eventually the magical light guiding you illuminates the far end of the cavern, where a giant set of double doors is inset in to the stone. One is partially ajar. To one side of the door, there is a pile of broken clay urns with sigils on them.
Echoes pauses, sniffing the air and then circling. It makes a shuddering, snorting sound and paws the ground, but does not move any further.
The essence appears to have been completely subsumed by Melo and Echoes when it was released and they bonded. Melo has the distant sense that there are other creatures, flashes of life energy, held at the cores of these spheres, but that's all.
Echoes paces up and down, padding around the spheres. Eventually it scratches the floor and snorts, a plume of blue-tinged mist emanating from its mouth. It locks gaze with Melo then begins moving off towards the northern end of the room where you have yet to explore, evidently having found a trail to follow.
Lilith's magic crashes in to the lizard like hammer blows, disoriented it stands no chance as Flynn's blade runs it through, it collapses on the floor and slowly fades away along with the other bodies.
Nothing else is visible to the party, Echoes sniffs the air but does not move.
Stepping out of combat for the moment.
Flynn, they're not undead
Flynn's return blow goes wide, bouncing off the reptilian scales.
Feldus continues to have poor fortune and his rapier also misses its mark as he scrabbles to keep the lizard's teeth away.
Melo's club smashes in to one of them, and Echoes finishes it off, teeth crunching down it uses one foot to hold the body in place as its neck arches, ripping the head from the body in a shower of gore.
The remaining lizard continues to snap and bite at Flynn and Feldus, scoring a grazing bite on Feldus For 5 damage.
>>> Map <<<
Round 5
Lenneth: Nauseated, 1 round left
The globes rest on the floor, balanced impossibly in place.
Valex staggers around the orb, and despite his churning stomach taking most of his attention, has the uncomfortable feeling that someone is watching him. Feldus' actions are whip-quick, but his blow with the rapier goes wide.
Flynn's sword blade digs in to the reptilian creature, leaving a dripping crimson line in its wake. looks like they're mostly regular flesh and blood :) It responds by lashing out with one scything foot, opening up a gash across the halfling's leg doing 8 damage plus poison (DC 14 fort save or take 1d2 dex damage)
Lilith is unable to determine the spell used as she did not watch it being cast, however she *is* able to discern that these are summoned creatures that have been twisted with shadow magic.
Melo's club goes wide, the small beast takes advantage and sinks its sawblade teeth in to the druid's arm doing 7 damage plus poison (DC 14 fort save or take 1d2 dex damage)
Echoes savage teeth and claws rip in to the shrieking monster, blood and darkness pooling from its many wounds, it is dragged to the floor where the alien beast rips it limb from limb before finally biting down and stilling its thrashing.
>>> Map <<<
Round 4
Feldus: Sickened, 1 round left
Melo: Sickened, 1 round left
Valex: Nauseated, 1 round left
Lilith: Nauseated, 1 round left
Lenneth: Nauseated, 2 rounds left
Players up
Claws skittering across the stone floor, three apparitions from nightmare coalesce from the shadows and rush forward towards you at breakneck pace, glowing red eyes wide with hunger as ropy strings of fetid drool drip from their cracked and blackened teeth.
One fetches up against Melo, skull butting him in the chest before its teeth catch hold of his arm, tearing out a bloody chunk. 7 damage
Another dashes in whisper-quick under Feldus' guard, scything talon opening up a stinging wound in the were-rat's gut. 5 damage
Echoes engages the third one, and the savage play of fur and claw plays out in front of you as if in slow motion, surely an effect of whatever narcotic energies were released in the cloud a moment ago.
>>> Map <<<
The smoke has now dissipated but the only light is coming from Lilith's dancing lights, plus any objects you have cast light on, so there are lots of shadows and the obsidian globes block LOS completely.
Round 3
Feldus: Sickened, 2 rounds left
Melo: Sickened, 2 rounds left
Echoes: Sickened, 1 round left
Valex: Nauseated, 2 rounds remain
Lilith: ?
Lenneth: Nauseated, 3 rounds remain
Flynn: May act as normal (lucky roll!!)
Players up
There is a hissing noise, and around you multi-colored smoke bursts up from the floor, the plumes smell of lavender and crimson, looking for all the world like tendrils of snaking scales that expand in to clouds of honeyed wine, coating you and the entire area in sparkling diamond dust that seems to fade even as you stare at it...
Fortitude save DC 16 or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds as you are wracked with waves of nausea and disorienting visions. If you succeed at the Fortitude save, you are instead sickened for 1d4 rounds.
There still appears to be no visible enemy, though Echoes was headed around that orb at the time the smoke appeared.
>>> Map <<<
>>> Players up <<<
Echoes' gender does not appear to be readily apparent, and may not even be a biological consideration given what you've seen of its alien nature.
As Melo indicates the surroundings, Echoes lowers its head and its eyes leak red mist as it moves in a stutter-step forwards and sideways, head twisting and turning as it seeks prey. Its claws leave smoking gashes in the stone floor, the air smells of burnt fur in its wake.
It begins to move around one of the spheres...
Are you following or waiting?
Despite your varied experiences and book learning, no-one seems to recognise the creature, other than to be sure it is a magical beast of some sort, and definitely not a Golarion native, most likely from another planet in the same system.
The creature tilts its head and seems to be staring at, or through you, it's eyes azure pools of radiance. It ignores Melo's words and sniffs the air instead. A ripple washes across its fur in a wave and it whirls on the spot, staring off in to the darkness.
Unable to see inside the obsidian sphere's opaque interior, Melo jams the glowing essence deep in to the nearest one...
The surface recoils before the glowing might of the essence as it erupts in radiant, blinding light.
All please roll Reflex save DC 15 or be blinded for 1d4 rounds
The orb is gone, the shattered remnants scattered across the floor, but slowly bleeding back in to the shadows they were formed from. Standing in its place is an alien-looking creature, snarling and staring directly at Melo...
Valex, there is no response to your words, however that may be because of the blinding flash and appearance of the creature.
The surface of the spheres return to their usual flat blackness as Melo moves the essence away from them.
At this stage those of you familiar with tracking and hunting realise that either your quarry is preternaturally skilled or else they are using magic to hide.
As Melo raises the glowing essence, the sphere before him reacts, the seemingly solid surface rippling as if it were water during a storm. Moving the essence towards another sphere has the same effect on it, though the previous sphere once again becomes dormant.
Feldus sniffs, then pads off in to the shadows, swiftly followed by an equally quiet Flynn, and moments later the shadows on the floor writhe and grow darker as Lenneth's spell send ribbons of darkness slithering over the rock.
The scent here is stronger, but you cannot see or smell anything exact. Scent and or vision/perception would work but you're against a high skill check...
>>> Map here <<<
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