Kishokish takes out his stamp. "I requisitioned another. It is more than just a stamp, you know. You will need to stop by the scriptorium for the final stamp. It is on your way." He stamps the newcomers.
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Kishokish makes his way to the kitchen. As he passes the two woken guests he says "I require no sustenance but do enjoy the brandy, the pipe and in the mornings coffee. I am headed to the kitchen to prepare a pot. No worries, I requisitioned cleaning crews. The messes you made have all been cleaned up."
"There is a guest room upstairs with two bunk beds. You are welcome to any place you desire so long as you avoid my master bedroom." Kishokish smiles as he takes another sip and another puff.
"Kishokish, master Hollins. Roslar's Coffer is evident by that glow in your chest. I happen to have some others in your same predicament in my drawing room. Please, join us." He looks over at Damien. "Your pale friend is invited as well." Kishokish leads the two wanderers to the drawing room. "It appears these two are from Roslar's Coffer and seek to return there as they have similar glowing items in their chests. I will leave the introductions to you." He motions to the brandy. "Help yourself if you so desire."
"Did you hear that? Seems I have a visitor. Please excuse me while I investigate." Kishokish makes his way to the foyer. "Greetings. What brings you to Nine-Eaves?
"I do not know this Aydie." Kishokish looks at the three stamps everyone has. "Hmmm......You might point out that every other psychopomp you met was determined to help you return. Swaying Mictena once her mind is made up will be no easy task but preferable to fighting her."
"So she moved her domain onto the Dead Roads to block your passage. She is determined and puts herself at risk to stop you. This is unusual. Mictena has always followed the rules. She is well respected for that."
Kishokish fires up his pipe to go with the brandy. "Gardeners, statue...that sounds like Deathbower. How did you end up there? The Dead Roads should have led you The Passage."
"My debt to you will never be repaid. Of course, of course. Join me in the drawing room." In the drawing room Kishokish offers you some fine brandy and motions for you to take a seat on any of the overstuffed chair. "Mictena did this to you?" Kishokish pours himself a brandy. "The liquor cabinet has quite a selection if you prefer something other than brandy."
After what seems like an eternity you hear some noise behind the door before it opens. The familiar smell of cedar and tobacco wafts from inside. "Well, well. Look who we have here. What brings you back to Nine-Eaves?"
"Please excuse me as I have some correspondence to take care of. It will include an exterminator, so you have no worries for the wasps. That is my problem. Yours is escaping the boneyard. Please give Salighara my salutations and an invite to join me for a game or two. It has been far too long." Kishokish begins working his way through your crowd to his master's quarters.
Kishokish removes the glove from Etgar's hand. "You will not be needing this as it is of no value to you now. I use it for my daily correspondences and notes as a smudge glove." He smiles at the investigator and pockets the glove.
Kishokish notices the anomaly in Balthasar's heart. "Another one." He checks Walhart for a marking. "Good, good. You have one stamp like the others. I would stamp you as well but I gave mine away." He smiles and looks at each of the party wondering who is in possession of the stamp now.
As Tally starts to beat the drum, Kishokish places his hand over the head so that it cannot be played. "Whoa. It is magical. This is a goblin
Kishokish walks over to the wall and takes a fiddle and drum. He offers the drum to Tally. "This may helpful in your pyrotechnics but being of goblin origin, I doubt it will terribly effective." He places the violin on the dais.
After I cast the spell he was unable to touch either of us. I just put him out of his misery as soon as possible."
"Let this be quick."
You hear a loud whack and crushing of bones as the yeth hound falls motionless.
Kishokish sets the harp on the floor and walks over to the yeth hound. "Sorry, boy, for what I must do. I curse the creature that brought you here."
Kishokish mumbles "Well that..." and then says "Be right with you, Tally." as he withdraws with the harp he is holding.
Kishokish looks at his prized harp. "Here Tally, please set this at a safe distance, I would hate for it to be damaged in a scuffle." Kishokish picks up the harp. A dramatic and sour music fills the room.
Kishokish casts protection from evil on Tally and himself. "So, how does one trigger this?" Kishokish readies his staff and steps onto the dais. Nothing happens. "Hmmm... no more advanced than a kobold trap?"
Strains of harp music fill this room , emanating from a large harp placed on a six-foot diameter dais in the room’s southwest corner. Other musical instruments are mounted on the walls here, from large woodwinds to tiny fiddles. A few padded stools are scattered throughout the room. Shoki constantly see alignment auras and magical auras. Kishokish immediately sees the magical aura the party did not look for previously. He motions for you to stay back as he looks at the dais. . "Apparently Vithiz or one of his accomplices has trapped my enchanted dais with a summoning spell. When triggered it will summon a yeth hound. I am not abe to counter this particular spell. Perhaps it is time to release the pup."
He hands the key to Etgar and says "I enjoy some fine music in the mornings. You may join me in the music room if you so desire." He heads downstairs.
"Ah, I almost forgot." Kishokish produces a small iron key that has the number 9 and a right triangle engraved upon it. You recognize it as the key you selected that opened the ballroom door. " While the Nine-Eaves key is held, the bearer can use open/close at will, but only to open, not to close. Also, Once per day the bearer
Kishokish smiles at Tally as he explains that "The manor itself. In particular the wood it is constructed of."
The book does not mend itself. The wood the manor is built from heals rapidly. Items in the manor apparently do not share this attribute. Kishokish looks at Tally with discernment as he stabs the book. "Pinecone......Such a readily available item in most any forest. I do not believe you will find one here, though. Well, you mustn't concern yourselves with my affairs. You have a journey of your own to undertake. "
"I can think of no resource in this entire manor that will rid me of these pests. I can make a requisition but that could take an eternity." Kishokish takes his staff and scrapes a deep and long gash into the beautiful wooden wall. The wood immediately begins to morph and is as good as new in a couple of seconds. "You cannot harm this manor, Tally. It heals itself."
By the time you get to Kishokish on the 2nd floor he has calmed down slightly and is no longer yelling in the strange language. "My library has been ruined. They destroyed everything. And there is a huge wasp nest in there full of huge wasps. I apologize if I woke you." He has closed the door to keep the wasps in the room.
Shortly after you finish your morning routines you hear Kishokish directly below you yelling in a language none of you know.
Kishokish notices Niu's demeanor and expression. "Perhaps we should all take our rest." He pours himself another brandy.
"There were no wasps in my immaculate library. Vithiz must have brought them here."
Between pipe puffs and brandy Kishokish manages to say "You must be tired after the encounter with my adversary. You are welcome to the guest quarters."
"Continue on The Dead Roads. It will find you."
Kishokish produces a pipe and a pouch of tobacco. He begins packing the pipe and says "I am not certain it works out quite like that. Each individual must meet Pharasma to have their final destiny chosen. All souls must take this journey in due time. Are you certain, dear, that you have no further use to others and yourself if you manage to return to Golarion?" He draws on the pipe and exhales a cloud of pleasant smelling flavored tobacco.
"Oh, my... Hmm.... She is not a wicked villain with a master plan, rather she is a powerful and effective bureaucrat. She must see your presence as a threat to the system she supports. This is dreadful news." "I happen to know quite a bit about her. Mictena doesn’t remember her own beginning, but she does remember the first soul she ushered into the afterlife: an elf named Ethariel. The gentle soul had seen both his spouse and child die in a natural disaster. Ready to follow them, he awaited a guide that would lead him to the next world. Even after millennia of helping the dead cross, Mictena has never encountered another a soul so eager and understanding. She looks upon Ethariel as the best example of mortal maturity and orderly progression from life to death. Every other soul’s transition since has proven annoyingly inefficient to her. Mortals who plead for more time, priests who resurrect the dead, daemons that feast on unattended souls—Mictena sees them all as out of true alignment with cosmic purpose. Mictena’s efforts did not go unnoticed, and the psychopomp ushers granted her dominion over a region at the edge of the Graveyard of Souls." "Although her control over the entire region is limited—bound by pacts with other psychopomps and the inscrutable rules that govern the flow of souls—her power is strongest in her garden, Deathbower. Mictena carefully tended and shaped this garden herself, finding a great deal of satisfaction in assuring that every brick and hedge and leaf rested in precisely its proper place. Deathbower is too large for her to tend on her own. Mictena relies on a contingent of loyal guards and retainers to do much of the heaviest and most time-consuming work." "Mictena appears as a skeleton dressed in formal garb and adorned with flowers. She prefers long, flowing dresses in elaborate colors and a wears a halo of bright flowers atop her skull. Unwaveringly dignified, Mictena never slouches and only rarely even sits down, holding herself high as a matter of principle. Mictena decorates her forehead with spreading lines connected together. Some see this image as a spider web and others as a sunrise or sunset; Mictena often attempts to read people’s characters by what they see in the design. For herself, the design represents the interconnected orderliness of all things, a reminder that a single stand out of place can mean disorder and dissolution." "I wish I had some insight on how you could change her mind on this matter. That seems improbable to me."
"Please join me in the drawing room. I have a graciously stocked liquor cabinet. This way if you so please." Kishokish exits the door in the north west corner of the ballroom. He walks past the now inanimate portrait and directly into the drawing room. He places six finely engraved glasses on one of the tables and pours himself a brandy. He places the brandy on the table with the glasses. He turns up the glass to take a sip.
"Unfortunately I have no healing resources at my disposal at this time. I can cast cure moderate wounds effortlessly all day long. Sadly it only affects undead."
"I will do more than just stamp you. You not only saved my spirit from torment at the sahkil’s claws, but prevented a potential invasion of the Boneyard by sahkil forces. Therefore I give you my 17-sided personal stamp, which functions as a pearl of power at 2nd level. I can requisition another. You may also keep any valuables you may have noticed in this manor." He stamps the three of you and hands the stamp to Niu. "I must assume your are returning to Golarion. If that be the case, your next stop will be Salighara’s Scriptorium. Salighara is professional in manner and takes her work very seriously. She will be able to get you the next stamp. you need."
Through the locked door to your east or from the balcony entrance on the third floor.
A massive staircase of dark wood rises to the north, its maroon carpet pitted with age. The railings are carved to resemble ascending ghosts. The wall atop the stairs bears an enormous, looming portrait 6 feet wide and 9 feet tall. The portrait depicts a bearded older man with curling ram horns, hunched under the weight of a massive snail shell on his back. The figure bears a half grin, as though he knows a particularly delightful secret. The portrait begins to move as it speaks.“ Well, well. Things aren’t as hopeless as I’d feared! Welcome to Nine-Eaves. The master of the manor, Kishokish, has been betrayed and captured. A group of adventurers just freed him. While I bear his appearance, I am little more than a host for his little parties and puzzles. It is time for a celebration. Will you join them in the ballroom?”
"Now, now child. He was far superior to you. It is by divine favor that you remain with us. You have a purpose to fulfill. This is obvious to me."
Noticing Etgar's uncomfortable stance Kishokish reaches out and takes his staff."Now, now young man. You have done the deed. My humblest thanks to you. Magics will retain him in this stave. There is no escape for him now."
"Master, Niu. The pleasure is mine. Your studies are truly correct, dear sir. The boneyard is extremely well structured with rules for everything and positions of authority to ensure those rules. These intruders are from another plane. How they arrived here is anyone's guess."
Kishokis simultaneously warps out of the staff. He is initially bent over breathing heavily and sweating profusely. "Greetings well timed visitors....That was...a draining event of combative restraint. Unpleasant it was to be in one's own staff. I must suppose that my portait has properly introduced us. May I now have the pleasure of your aquaintance?"
"My apologies, ma'am. That is beyond my capabilities."
"The glove will prevent the sahkil from striking you as you attempt to disarm it. I suspect that Kishokish being inside the staff may be able to provide some aid as well. Should you strike him with the staff, Kishokish and the sahkil will exchange places. The sahkil will be trapped inside the staff and Kishokish will be liberated."
"I only know a few things about this Sahkil. It is a wihsaak. They have a significant resistance to everything but good. They are inherently evil." He continues telling you this
"I have never seen anything of the such. It is possible this could be the work of the sahkil. It seems innocent enough but I simply do not know."
"I would not know."
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