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Marco peeks around the corner and sees the flame sphere is gone. He steps around and moves forward stepping gingerly through the conjured rocks. His spell still enables him to make up enough ground to cast another spell, though. "Lubrica!" he exclaims as he draws the arcane symbols and points at the quarterstaff in the hands of the enlarged druid guarding the entrance of the ritual clearing.
Marco moves up to peer over the shoulders of those ahead of him at the bottleneck preventing the party from joining the attack. "Well, it's a good thing we all came the same direction." He then moves back and around the corner to avoid being caught in any area spells that may target the cluster of Pathfinders.
"I have an idea: I have a scroll of expeditious retreat and a thunderstone. Wei Ji can scout the right, and if there are foes there asleep, I'll head that way alone while the rest of you go left. I'll drop some grease between me and the sleeping place, hit the sleepers with the thunderstone, and retreat. It should slow them, and draw any other druids in these hedges to that side, and clear the other path for you. And hopefully, my speed will help me be gone before any of them can catch me."
Marco nods his head in approval at the diplomatic success. As the others heal up, he poses a question to the Atomie, "Clearly, you'd enjoy watching a good fight. And these hedges look like quite the maze. Why don't you help us get through this maze to find those boring druids quickly so that we can keep the excitement going?"
Marco looks on with satisfaction as the spriggan drops its weapon, though he grimaces when he manages to pick it up again. Still, he turns his attention to the next task on his list. "Hominen maior!" This time he points at the diminutized Wei Ji at the end of his somatic ritual, and the Tengu returns to normal size.
As the others judge the huntress, Marco contents himself to identify her magical belongings and then shares their properties with the party. He shakes his head when the decision is made, "Some of those trophies don't look to come from beastmen. I'm not so sure that she's the pure-hearted, but misguided, defender that we suspected from her rhetoric. I know my opinion won't make a difference, but if we leave her alive, we share the glory of every trophy she collects in the future."
Marco views the progression of the disease in his companions with stoic resignation. "Wei Ji's advice may be most prudent. We are presuming that the effects will be reversed if we interrupt the druids' ritual. If it is only halted, however, it would be better to arrest the degradation today rather than let it continue as we close on the site of the ritual." "Hmmm... on further reflection, however, I would posit that, once initiated, the metamorphosis is more likely progressed by time than proximity to the ritual site. This is suggested to my by the advanced state of those lumberjacks. It's unlikely that they strayed far from their worksite, as we intend to continue further. Yet their transformation clearly did not stabilize." "I think the best course is to succeed our mission, and hope that the ritual's effect can be reversed. In fact, I'm convinced that it is our only course. If we do not expect to reach the site today, I think we should forego further rests until this unnatural ritual is ceased." At the suspicious bridge, Marco hangs back, content to follow the lead of the vanguard.
Marco moves closer to the battle with the gorilla man. He sees Frost lining up to flank him if he comes out from between the buildings. He stands at a good distance to set the line for Wei Ji to draw him out. "Wei Ji, hold the line with me here!" Marco prepares to further entice the gorilla man to follow by firing a ball of acid at him if Wei Ji steps back.
Upon witnessing the change that's affected Pan and Odo, Marco casts resistance upon himself, though more as a superstition than as a practical attempt to ward off something he knows he's already been exposed to. As the former lumberjacks begin to emerge as beastly hunters, Marco rebukes himself, "Should have known, if anyone describes someplace safe on the way to a mission, we should be expecting trouble." Marco moves out until he sees one of the further lumberjacks, and casts grease between the bestial lumberjack and the party to slow him down on his approach.
Marco shrinks back to normal size during the conversations. He watches Pangu as he eyes the party, wondering what he's looking for. When he grumbles about his clothes, Marco volunteers, "That's easy enough. Dolum minor!" He waves a pointed finger at the singed clothing, and its original color begins to shine through as the ashes disappear. "Anyone else?" He offers cleaning services to the rest of the group, minus the hunters.
Marco continues putting out fires with his cloak, clumsily navigating through the field in his enlarged form. As the last flames are extinguished, he looks to the injured gnome, and then to Wei Ji. "Wei Ji, can you check on him? See if that's who we're looking for, too." He then joins the questioning of the conscious arsonist, "Why did you think we were hunters at first? What is your conflict with hunters? And why was your arson focused on the belladonna?" Marco looks over at Pangu with raised eyebrows, wondering if the alchemist could confirm or add any insight regarding belladonna's properties that might make it dangerous or valuable.
Marco looks warily at the spreading flames, and takes one last look at his teammates for a better target for his spell. He decides the best use may not be for combat. He dances between a couple flaming crops into a clearing, speaks some activation words, and then he doubles in size. He tosses the now blank piece of paper over his shoulder and begins removing his now extra-extra-large travelling cloak. Holding the edge, he flaps it out to unfurl it and prepares to smother the flames.
Sensing that diplomacy is not an option upon hearing more from this group, particularly as they regard Wei Ji when they spot him, Marco waits for the fighters to take the lead moving in. He stops at the edge of the building to try to view the battlefield. He uncaps his scroll box and takes out a scroll.
At the house, Marco takes cover against the wall with the others. "That sounds rather aggressive. Shall I attempt to distract them with an attempt at diplomacy while our ranged fighters round this building to flank them? And Wei Ji might be able to sneak around the outside of that garden there to flank them from the other direction."
Purchases:
Purchases potions CLW (3) 150 gp
Reaching up, Pan slowly strokes his thin beard, "Honestly, if there is a challenge we can not overcome with this," he lifts his bag and shakes it, "Then I will be sorely disappointed in myself..." Marco looks at the party with an amused grin, "Fine! I'll take the bait if no one else will. What's in the bag?" He adds, outside the office, "It would be refreshing if some of the academics in the Society made it to Venture Captain once in a while. Maybe then we might get a mission with enough notice that we may prepare for what we might encounter. It seems like every one of my missions has been a race against some threat that has a head start." "My name is Marco. I'm not the most useful Agent in a fight, but some people find peace in some aspect of my manner," he shakes his head bemusedly, "that I think aggression is sometimes deterred. I suppose I'm an adequate sorcerer. I've recently mastered a new spell to enlarge an ally, granting him or her greater strength and reach." He looks at everyone in the party, but lingers longer on the most heavily armored teammates, "Let me know if this would benefit you in case diplomacy fails during our mission - I understand it's an appreciated spell by warriors."
Marco slipped off his gear and left it in the corner during the meeting. The slender, olive-skinned sorcerer stood near the desk as the Captain laid down the lorestone. He tilted his head and considered the vexing stone with a grimace of sympathy for the Pathfinders who undoubtedly spent countless frustrating hours trying to coax its secrets. "I agree with Wei Ji," Marco nods to the familiar tengu, "if we could take an evening to research these creatures we are likely to encounter, it could only benefit our preparation... unless we find that lycanthropes borne of this god-touched ritual are unlike any naturally occurring lycanthropes encountered by our fellow Pathfinders previously. Hm, I suppose discovery is among our duties, however, if that turns out to be the case."
Marco looks to the party. "Quickling? Anyone familiar with that fey?" He turns back to the gnome, "Yes, we would like to improve relations between the Society and the defenders of these woods. We hoped that Hemzel would be amenable, since he was clearly a treasurer of research. We wanted to show him that he has many kindred souls in the Society, apart from the brash adventurers that you've likely all encountered outside of Absalom." "And, yes, we hoped the lodestone could be an item of common interest to help us forge a more cooperative relationship." "The remorseful fey that told us what she witnessed here described Cyflymder's allies as 'brutes'. To be honest, I'm not sure I ever imagined fey that sounded so physically imposing. Are there fey that are strong enough to do... that," he nods toward the door of Hemzel's house, "to a man? Or is it possible that Cyflymder has unusual allies now?"
Marco invites the gnomes to the home with a sweeping gesture as he clears the doorway, "Please see for yourself that things are as we say, but please do so with haste. We know where his murderers are heading, but they have a head start on us, so we must hurry if we are to intercept them. Things to note, to verify that we speak the truth, is the savagery with which Hemzel was dispatched - you'll notice that none of us are covered with the amount of gore that would have resulted from carrying out such work. Also, you'll see that Hemzel's assailants started burning the home - in various locations, so that rules out an accidental flame begun during the struggle - but the flames are now extinguished. There's no one else here that could have extinguished the fire but these gentlemen and ladies with me, and what purpose would they have to extinguish the fire if we were the ones that started them? Then, of course, you'll find the body of the fae-touched inside that Wei Ji described. He was with a group led by Cyflymder. Are you familiar with this evil fey?"
"By all means..." Marco defers to the chemist, and watches from a safe distance as he mixes his elixir and then translates the last part of the journal. "Goodness! Perhaps I should have rented or purchased a horse, after all. It sounds like we'll be in a race to reach that circle before this Cyflymder. Gire, are there any druidic circles nearer than this one Hemzel described to the north?" "We should probably bring the box, as well, so that we can keep the lorestone out of the sun if we manage to retrieve it."
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