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Having returned your halflight charms to a waiting Duskwarden, you make for the door yourself. Before you reach it, Abra stops you and looks each of you in the eye in turn, "I want to be angry at you for not listening to me, but the truth is Nobu and I would both be dead if you hadn't engaged. I owe you my life and as such I offer you this as a reward and obligation to return the favor."

He passes over a dark blue crystal embossed with a golden arch, suspended from a black cord.

"This is a greater halflight charm. Each Duskwarden has one that he or she can give to those who have done us either as an organization or individual a great service. Each is tied to the specific warden and once per year, you can call upon ... in this case ... me. As long as you are somewhere on Golarion, I will instantly transport to you."

In addition, if worn as an amulet, the charm grants darkvision 60 feet at all times, and +2 bonus to initiative while underground

"I bid you farewell and all the best in your visit to Kaer Maga."


Abra sheathes his swords and looks at the smoldering aberrations. He runs his fingers through his hair and then spits on the ground.

"Nobu, start bricking this up again. I'll get our guests up top."

He glances at you all, "Go help the merchant and his sons get that wagon going, I'm going to scout ahead."

He jogs up ahead, talisman glowing with light.


Abra and one of the other Duskwardens, a dwarf by the name of Nobu open the door and lead you in. Beyond the Twisted Door, the Half light Path is a roughly 15-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall tunnel that winds up through the cliff at a steep but manageable slope. The tunnel begins as a natural-looking cave, with minimal work done to widen it, but as it climbs, it passes through numerous distinct regions—places where the tunnel has been painted with crude pictographs or decorated with elaborately carved pillars and frescoes, or where it becomes a mirror-smooth tube or a square-walled path filled with right angles, like a labyrinth in which every wrong turn has been blocked off.

Sometimes it emerges briefly onto narrow ledges along the cliff face, and at one point the tunnel even opens up into a larger chamber where both walls are carved with elaborate porticos and balconies, its many doors and archways all carefully locked and barred or bricked up completely.

Abra explains, "Maintaining the barricades that separate the Halflight Path from the rest of the passages below Kaer Maga is one of the Duskwardens’ chief jobs."

All three Grumms are noticeably nervous in the tunnel, and flinch at every distant roar or shriek that filters through the walls. The boys are in phenomenal shape and while the cart moves slowly, they move steadily with no signs of letting up.

About an hour in to your journey you come upon a long and straight tunnel that maintains a consistent 15-foot diameter. On the right wall, elaborate carvings depicting a falling star wreaking havoc on a humanoid populace flank an enormous archway carved with twining vines that almost obscure leering skulls. The space inside the arch has been crudely bricked up, with many of the bricks broken or sticking out at right angles.

As the party passes the archway, Abra pauses to look at the poor brickwork on the barricade and mutters, “That isn’t right.” At that precise moment, the unmortared brickwork explodes outward as a piece of it flies out and a long tentacle works its way through.

Abra and Nobu immediately draw blades and leap to the barricade, pushing rocks and pieces up against it as something thunders against the other side. Nobu, closer to the barricade, slashes at the tentacle with an axe and the blanches as he looks beyond the hole, he whispers something to Abra.

Perception DC20:
"Segeuthi ... three of them, Abra. There's no chance ..."

Abra turns and looks at the party, grimly, shouting over the hammering on the walls "Take the Grumms the rest of the way, use your charms if you get in trouble, someone will come down from above. We'll hold the line here."

Actions?

Huh, almost every single paragraph above started with an "A" ... weird


"Passage through the Half light Path normally takes 2 hours, but Bolgar Grumm's hand cart will take up most of the tunnel and limit us to the speed at which those two boys can haul it."


After a few minutes of waiting, one of the Duskwardens breaks from the group and approaches the party. Looking about 30 years old, with a thick brown beard and hard but handsome features, the man offers his hand to be shook, saying jovially, "My name is Abra Lopati, I'm in command of the Duskwarden patrol through the Halflight path today. Since you strike me as a bunch who look like you can pull your weight, you get to jump to the front of the line."

He then waves over several more people waiting in line—a fat man with two strapping but dull-looking teenagers hauling a hand cart full of sacks and crates.

Once you're all together, Abra lays out the rules of ascent, "Each of you 5 will be charged 2 gold each. Bolgar, you and your boys are charged 2 gold each plus 10 gold for the cart. This is the bare minimum allowable for us to keep the Path in repair. Now, once we pass through the Twisted Door, there is to be no talking unless absolutely necessary, and absolute silence whenever I signal for it."

Bolgar, apparently stinging from the fee, looks inclined to object, but Abra waves him down,

"Let me emphasize that while the Duskwardens attempt to keep the path safe, there are still things in the Undercity that we don’t want to risk meeting, and that the whole reason we operate in small groups is to maintain a certain level of stealth, as well as to make it easier to fight in cramped quarters if necessary. During any potential emergencies, my orders are to be followed without exception." At that last addendum, he looks significantly at the party.

He then hands each if you a small crystal on a thong, "These are half light charms. These small magic items glow as bright as a torch but without the smoke and hassle, and in case of emergencies or if a traveler becomes separated, you can use it to call for help."

Halflight Charm:
This amulet is a small crystal at the end of a simple leather thong. It glows brightly from within, shedding light equivalent to that of a torch. Once per day, the amulet’s bearer can clutch the object and call for help. Doing so immediately contacts the three closest Duskwardens and gives them intimate knowledge of the pendant’s location, as per the locate object spell, out to a distance of a mile.