Heveel steps away and heals himself while Illirio is paralyzed
Initiative Round 5
Timmon 5/10 hp
Pillango 3/9 hp
Belina -1/12 hp save made, needs to stabilize
Hadid -1/10 hp, save made, stable
- - -
Yeti 23 damage
- - -
Heveel 9/16 hp, save made
Illirio
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Timmon helplessly stares at the battle above him. When the yeti shifts footing, Timmon sees its foot descending to crush his face. Something viscerally animal breaks through his paralysis, and he reflexively rolls aside.
Scooping his staff, he arcs it at the creature's thigh, then jabs at its back.
...
...
Timmon and Pillango finally shake of the paralyzing effect from the yeti's eyes and immediately seize the initiative by damaging the yeti twice! Unfortunately that has also drawn it's attention...
It also hits twice, and hard!
Initiative Round 6
Illirio
Heveel 9/16 hp, save made
Timmon -9/10 hp, save made, needs to stabilize
Pillango -11/9 hp, save made, needs to stabilize (or a stabilize spell / CLW from Heveel...)
Belina -2/12 hp save made, needs to stabilize
Hadid -1/10 hp, save made, stable
- - -
Yeti 33 damage
- - -
Heveel shows that combat healing can be quite useful, while Timmon adds some blood to the large quantity that is already available in the yard.
Initiative Round 6
Illirio
Belina -2/12 hp save made, needs to stabilize
- - -
Yeti 33 damage
- - -
Heveel 9/16 hp, save made
Timmon -10/10 hp, save made, needs to stabilize
Hadid -1/10 hp, save made, stable
Pillango -7/9 hp, save made, stable
Illirio fires the shot and it seems to take forever to pass the distance between the mage and the yeti. The yeti grunts as the bolt hits it, stands tall and tears the bolt from it's pelt.
It looks at Illirio and makes ready to charge the human when it suddenly seems to reduce a bit in size and muscle... before it crumbles to the ground.
You decide to do a quick checks of the monastery and find that it is empty.
In one of the rooms you find a braid of hair among the various sticks and animal bones. Another room seems suitable to rest.
The fifteen-foot-by-thirty-foot room seems to have escaped the destruction found throughout the rest of the monastery. A statue, leaning against the northern wall, appears out of place among the rest of the room’s contents—clay pots, ruined sacks, and aged tools. The statue, made of finely carved stone with jade inlays, depicts a man with a serene face, standing in a meditative stance.
Hadid is investigating the statue when suddenly all of you hear a voice in your native tongue
"You are new to the monastery, I have not seen you before."
"Oh, forgive me. I don't speak Vudrani but speak directly to your mind. Kind of a nice trick when one does not actually have the capability to speak"
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...
Hadid is investigating the statue when suddenly all of you hear a voice in your native tongue
"You are new to the monastery, I have not seen you before."
Surprised to hear a response in Vudrani, Hadid responds in the same tongue.
Yes I am, who is it that somehow knows I speak Vudrani?
Timmon tilts his head and looks at the cleric, "Hadid, what are you saying?"
"Oh, forgive me. I don't speak Vudrani but speak directly to your mind. Kind of a nice trick when one does not actually have the capability to speak"
Then he spins to look behind him. "Who is there?"
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Illirio also freezes, and upon seeing Hadid and Timmon's reactions, relaxes marginally.
"Please excuse our intrusion, kind and noble stranger. We have come a long distance today, and are weary and wounded. Thank you for your gracious welcome, and know that we are Pathfinders, one and all."
Illirio then gives a deep bow to nothing in particular.
“I am Jiang Dan, a simple servant of the Master of Masters.”
"The master of the monastery left a long time ago"
"There is a reason for everything, even if we do not know it. The master did not need the braid, so he left it here. That one does not serve under a master does not mean one can not serve the master of masters. I foolishly asked for wisdom. In response, I was given time to find that wisdom for myself.”
"I am still me, but have been transformed into this statue. I have been given time to find my wisdom. The master of masters gave me what I needed, instead of what I wished for. Now I know why he was right..."
".... there is still so much I have to learn, I have been given eternity to find it."
"I once thought that the braid makes the master, but it seems it is the other way around"
“You did not ask for the entire story brother sylph. I will tell you now.
A petulant student believed he knew better than his master. The student proclaimed that the master unfairly gained power from the Braid of a Hundred Masters, cheapening the path to self-perfection. He challenged the master to remove the braid and compete against him without its power. The master did so and, in the process, defeated the student. Once the master had proven himself to the student, the master left the braid at the student’s feet, then turned away, leaving the monastery, never to return. The master took one student with him that day, the young disciple, Ying Pei, while the remaining students squabbled and fought over the braid.
None could call upon the power of the braid and so they left the monastery, one by one, once again seeking their true paths to perfection. Eventually, only the petulant student and the braid remained. Here he stayed, until the day he died, contemplating the significance behind his master’s actions. Perhaps, through searching for the master and his last disciple, you may uncover the answer to the Braid of a Hundred Masters.”
You test the braid with a detect magic spell and find out that it is a powerful magic item, but somehow not active.
“No time to rest, Pathfinders!” Venture-Captain Amara Li, exclaims late one night a few days after your return to Goka. She barges into the bedroom of the ramshackle tavern where you are staying “I’ve looked into the situation surrounding the relic you found, the Braid of a Hundred Masters. As you may have noticed, the artifact appears to have been dormant for many years now, and in this state it’s essentially worthless to us. Fortunately, it can be reactivated, but only by the descendant of the braid’s last master, who, as you may know, was the master of the Clouded Path Monastery many years ago, a man by the name of Li Yao. I’ve discovered the whereabouts of his final living descendant—a woman by the name of Je Tsuin—but she now resides in the nation of Shokuro to the east, far from where her ancestor taught in his monastery in the Wall of Heaven. In order to reactivate the sacred relic, you’ll need to travel to the village of Nesting Swallow in Shokuro and find Je Tsuin to perform the necessary ritual.
“Unfortunately,” she continues, “we’re not the only group interested in Iroran artifacts. Our operatives claim that Lingshen, the Successor State to the southeast, is after the relic as well. Since Lingshen’s armies have a stranglehold on the overland routes from here to Shokuro, you’ll have to travel by river. Riding the Tuunma is faster anyway, though you might run into some hostile Mutabi-qi or goblinoids along the way. The river empties into the Sea of Eels—cross it and you’re in Shokuro, and from there you can follow the map I’ve provided to reach Nesting Swallow. "
““Ah, before I forget, you’ll also need you to make a quick stop along the way. The ritual requires a large amount of rare incense—more than I could easily procure from any of my local suppliers—so I’ve contacted a nomadic tribe in Shaguang, the Jhemulit, and they have agreed to provide you with the prepared herbs. I’ve already paid their shaman, a man named Ogokai, and I’ve marked their approximate location on your map, so it’s simply a matter of picking up the incense on your way to Shokuro.”
"The Laughing Crow is waiting for you at the docks, get going! I have sent Hadid of, he has another assignment. A replacement will join you at the docks."
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"Please this way or we will miss our ship!"
A large man of mongrelized Tian descent dressed in stout travelling garb leads a small pack of foreigners along the wharf. His voice is a hoarse, but carrying, whisper His closely shaved hair is creates a black shadow on his otherwise unadorned skull.
Behind him, an older man with a similarly bald head, a graceful, willowy, red-haired woman carrying an equally willowy, gracefully curved sword, and a halfling woman in studded leather move hurriedly along the docks.
A man with light blue skin color and white eyes trails the rest of the party. His grey dirty hair are long and braided. A smoking cig hangs from the lips of an absent looking face. Suddenly, the sylph's head tilts back and a long stream of smoke issues from his mouth.
All carry packs and baggage indicating a long journey ahead.
The large Tian stops suddenly. "Here we are, The Laughing Crow."