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The item that you now look at is a brass Wayfinder, with faded scrollwork on the outer cover. Five white crystals glow, set into its surface.
The white crystals glow and bear a similar magical aura to ioun stones.
As you run your fingers along the edge, the Wayfinder springs open revealing the delicate iron needle on its pivot. On the inside of the cover is more scrollwork and an inscription of some type, but one that is difficult to make out in the torch light of the room.
Komana moves the wayfinder into brighter light, trying to read the inscription.
"Oh what do we have here?" Zareth looks over Komana's shoulder at the Wayfinder. "Let's see if we can get a better look at that writing..." He carefully picks the Wayfinder up and holds it up to the nearest torch.
'Long have we to find our way. Emerge from blood victoriously. Go safely among blade and axe. And do not suffer violent facts. Constantly rises enemy again and again. You must protect thy LEGACY.'
'Cement that to memory gentlemen, it seems our next test will be less cerebral than the last.'
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'Long have we to find our way. Emerge from blood victoriously. Go safely among blade and axe. And do not suffer violent facts. Constantly rises enemy again and again. You must protect thy LEGACY.'
'My legacy? It's going to attack my testicles?' Iacobus thinks whimsically, before shaking his head to clear it of nonsense.
"Go safely among blade and axe. And do not suffer violent facts. Constantly rises enemy again and again." He says aloud, "Suggesting that an obvious violent solution may prove both untrue, and uneffective, as the enemy rises again and again, no matter how many times struck down." His voice takes on a somewhat startled tone, "Oh please don't let this challenge involve a troll... I hate trolls."
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"I second that, Iacobus. Trolls can be difficult. There's one other thing, though"
Dird climbs into one of the man-sized chairs, conspicuously avoiding the one that may have recently supported a corpse.
"You must protect the Legacy....so whatever the legacy actually is, we need to ensure that it comes to no harm. What protective magic do we have between us?"
'Hmm. I wonder, I suspect illusions and possible undead. These five stones must be the key to the challenge, their being five is simply too much of a coincidence. They radiate magic as an ioun stone... I wonder.'
Komana tries to remove a stone and activate it like and ioun stone.
"Well, this is interesting." Zareth casts Detect Magic on the stones.
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'Hmm. I think we might need to use these in the test. Just a hunch!' She smiles and deactivates the ion stone, replacing it in the wayfinder.
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No sooner had you completed your research then a deep tone reverberates throughout the room and the torches dim as a large red glowing orb of light appears in the center of the room. It is similar to the pathfinder orb that you followed to your rooms the previous day, but significantly larger. It begins slowly moving toward the door.
After studying a book on the social etiquette of Absalom for half an hour, you gain insights into the nature of etiquette and the social niceties of the region. The next three (3) intimidate, bluff, or diplomacy checks you make in Absalom gain a +4 research bonus. You also gain a +2 research bonus to Knowledge (local) and Knowledge (nobility) checks for the next 24 hours.
Zareth decides to research notable adventures of past Pathfinders, in the hopes that they might be somehow related.
"I suppose we're supposed to follow this? Well, either that or run away from it."
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After studying a history of Pathfinder quests for half an hour, you gain insights into some of the brave physical deeds they accomplished. The next three (3) physical (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution-based) skill checks you make in regards to surviving and thriving in hostile environs gan a +2 research bonus. You also gain a +2 research bonus to saving throws for the next 24 hours.
'This is it. I'll hand out the stone once we get going, not a word about them to anyone though, especially not the competition. Lead on gentlemen.'
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After studying a book on items and artifacts used by the Pathfinder Society for half an hour, you gain insights into how to use them better. Your next three (3) attempts to use a wayfinder for tracking or directional purposes gain a +4 research bonus. For the next 24 hours you gain a +5 research bonus to spellcraft and knowledge checks to identify items and artifacts of importance to the Pathfinder Society.
Soven stands guard in the room while his friends study vigorously, pacing back and forth sweeping his sword in gentle arcs.
When the orb enters the room, Soven places the sword back in the sheath.
Nodding at Komana's words, Soven sweeps the library with his eyes once more before following the orb.
May Calistria judge me not too harshly for spending my last moments on this world in a library, Would that Desna's path be magnificent and beautiful after this life as it was in this, And pray my sword, dearest friend, find the end of Kaelor and Dakgu and gift upon it unadulterated violence most fierce , unprecedented agony most horrific and searing, and unimaginable terror that cannot be described, defined, conveyed, or spoken.
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The red orb follows much the same path as the original one that led you to your chambers, but in reverse. It crosses the sky bridge and continues down to the central hall at the main lodge. There are guards standing at the doorway, blocking entry, but upon seeing the red orb, they stand aside, holding the black curtains out of the way.
The red orb continues down the stairs into the central hall, where you notice that the windows have entirely been covered in black. Candelabras on the wall are the only sources of light in the room, and much of the great hall is now swallowed in darkness.
"Legacy." A voice booms out.
"It is all well and good to preserve your histories and discoveries with ink and paper. But what good is that if you cannot survive long enough to see it published? Legacy is not the art of seeing something preserved, but the initiative and strength to get it to its preservers. Survival of the strongest."
Across the way you see a green orb similar to your own. Five figures following behind them. Cassandra is lit by the green light in front of her, still dressed in the same white robes, with a silver hunter's mask across her nose and eyes. A white stone hovers in front of her forehead. In her hands she carries a halberd.
Four lanternbearers enter the hallway from another direction. The soft glow from the lanterns show ten figures dressed in black robes, their features indistinguishable.
As the group nears it's destination, Zareth motions across his chest and says a few arcane words.
'Oh my,' Komana removes the wayfinder, and hands everyone their stones quickly.
'Activate them, snappy now gentlemen, this could get hairy.'
She takes her own advice and activates the ioun stone, replacing the wayfinder and getting ready to draw her bow.
Soven feels the fiery warmth of magic coarse through his veins. It takes all of his discipline and fortitude not to shout out and run forward to whatever lie ahead.
Thank you, Iacobus, I am not sure what magic you have bestowed upon me, but I have a feeling it will be put to use most effectively.
Soven's impeccable posture seems to have improved if that were possible and his eyes almost glow with anticipation.
Right you are Komana. Let us activate them with a quickness and face whatever they dare send our way to vanquish.
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As both of the parties are led down into the main hallway, one of the ten robed figures steps forward, and pulls the cowl from his head. The same masked lord from earlier in the day now speaks to you all.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen. It seems we have come to our last challenge. The Decemvirate has unified again to provide you with access to the deeper vaults of the Grand Lodge, and with it, perhaps the access to your doom. The final challenge, as you may have guessed, is a challenge of combat! And it seems you have all prepared yourselves accordingly."
He turns and faces the other nine behind him.
"So... let us open the vaults! The Warchamber awaits!"
The nine hooded figures turn to one another and nod, moving out again into the hall and spreading out as the lanterns are made a little brighter.
A design appears on the floor that had not been visible before due to the furniture that was present. It is not an unfamiliar design for those that have ever looked at a map or at the wayfinder. A compass rose, in alternating black and white marble, with full round decals at the eight traditional points.
One of the nine moves toward the fountain, still gurgling away. The figure reaches down beneath the ledge at its circumference and the fountain is no longer active. The water dies down to a trickle and then stops completely. The figure steps into the pool of still water and pulls a key attached to a chain from his robe. He puts it into the mouth of the fountain and turns his wrist. There is a loud click, and a grinding noise from the compass rose.
The remaining eight figures had taken their places at the eight cardinal directions of the compass rose. The grinding noise is soon revealed as a mechanial movement of stone against stone. Each of the round decals at the cardinal points begins to emerge from the floor, eight columns sliding upward directly in front of the eight waiting figures.
The columns rise until they are about waist high then grind to a stop.
The eight figures each pull chained keys from their robes and with a brisk and hard turn, remove the tops of the columns, which pivot to the side. The keys are inserted and turned in unison.
Another grinding of stone against stone. The compass rose itself between the eight robed figures begins to move. A marble leaf of the rose sinks down beneath the floor surface, followed by the next marble leaf, which sinks a little lower than the first, and so on, until a small spiral staircase leads down where there once was an ornate compass rose.
The masked lord moves forward, taking a lantern from one of the bearers. "Come along then!"
Glancing at her companions, and holding her bow at the ready, Komana silently follows the masked lord into the unknown.
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Wide-eyed, Dird clutches the stone in a sweaty palm, looking to his companions. Raising it up, he activates it and leaves it floating as Komana did before.
He falls to the back of the group and trails a few short steps behind, spinning a dagger steadily with one hand, the other drawing a short steel blade from its sheathe.
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The masked lord looks back at you as he leads you down the winding staircase onto another staircase still leading downward.
"I am glad to see that you are prepared for combat. But fear not, nothing will happen to you here until we reach the warchamber."
The staircase you are now on is dimly lit by the lantern in the masked lord's hand. You can see many different staircases branching off from this one, twisting and confusing in their construction. It would not take much to get lost in a place like this.
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The masked lord finds a trapezoidal arch that leads to another chamber. He leads you into the chamber, which is bare except for a single candelabra in the center of the room. There are two further doors, one to the left and one to the right.
"Here is where you part ways. I fear. Komana, lead your group to the left, and Cassandra, lead your group to the right. The objective is simple: continue through your chamber until you have reached the other side, and kill or incapacitate everything in your path."
The masked lord pauses for a moment, as though loathe to continue.
"By the way, if you wish to turn back, now is the time to do so. Once you have entered the chambers, you will not be able to return this way. And I cannot be held accountable for anything that happens within those chambers. It is a place frought with peril. It is dangerous by design."
'We have no need to turn back as yet.' Komana looks around at her companions, then nods and turns to enter the arch, casting light on her ioun stone.
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Seeing the uncertain lighting, Iacobus reaches into his haversack, which is now slung over his shoulder, and produces a locket on a chain, that glows with continual flame.
He wraps the chain thrice around the wrist of his weapon arm, so that the flame illumines both in front and behind (but not so much to his opposite side).
Zareth enters the room right in the middle.
Soven nods at what he presumes to be Komana's guidance for him to take the front. Drawing his sword, Soven steps forward, with the ioun stone in place.
Feeling a surge of excitement, and the fiery magic flowing through his blood, Soven looks directly at the masked man.
Lead on.
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You continue down the corridor for a long few moments, lit dimly by the various torches and light enchantments you bear. The corridor turns sharply into a twist, now leading the opposite direction (like a U).
As you reach the turn in the corridor, you can hear the sound of stone sliding on stone far behind you.
Actions, anyone?