Seeing that her assault was having great success, Lilia pounds the elemental again with her bolts of fire.
Attack One
Possible Damage
Attack Two
Possible Damage
Sarek whispers a prayer to Iomedae and keeps going forward with his attack.
Attack 1:
Damage 1:
Attack 2:
Damage 2:
Thediar casts bless, giving everyone a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves against fear effects for 7 minutes.
Sarek whispers a prayer to Iomedae and keeps going forward with his attack.
Attack 1: 1d20 + 12
Damage 1: 2d4 + 16Attack 2: 1d20 + 7
Damage 2: 2d4 + 16
Rerolled damage:
Ylera will cast Hex of Misfortune on the elemental Sarek is fighting and Will Save DC 17 and she will laugh cruelly to extend it's duration by one round. If it fails it must roll every d20 roll it makes twice and take the worse result.
Sarek's mighty blows rip through the faltering elemental's form. It falls apart, collapsing in a great splash!
Behind the northern waterfall there is indeed a cave. It is about forty feet in diameter and submerged in a foot of water. Scattered across the rocky floor are hand-sized stones which are inscribed with glowing runes ...
"Can anyone analyze the magicks here?"
Sarek sighs deeply as the last elemental falls. His body aches from the elemental's blows against his body. He pulls out a wand from his pack and touches it to his chest a couple of times. The pain washes away and he feels energized again.
"Is anyone else hurt?", he asks the rest of the group.
"Let me take a look at those ruins. Wow, Very pretty." Lilia says a few quick arcane words and looks at the ruins again, more closely this time.
Knowledge Arcana
Spellcraft
Lilia's examination reveals that there are three different kinds of fey runes etched into the stones. The runes represent the Material Plane, the First World, and the Shadow Plane.
Each stone is about two and a half pounds. There are up to twenty five stones here.
"This seems to be more than just the source of the fog," Thediar muses. "If Rhoswen is on the ball at all, she'll have these things trapped."
Is there a coherent layout of the stones, such as "The First World stones look like this, and the Shadow Plane stones are arranged in that shape..."
What does Thediar know about planar runes like this? Knowledge (the planes)
The stones seem to be randomly scattered about.
Thediar recalls seeing these same exact runes carved onto the monoliths standing atop the hill next to Devarro's sanctuary.
Janus finds no traps.
"Would a blanket dispel solve our problem? Or moving them into a pocket dimension, via something like rope trick?" Thediar asks Lilia.
"I think we could put as many of them in my magical haversack as will fit, get them back to Devarro, and figure out what to do with them from there," Lilia exclaims thoroughly captivated by the magic in the stones.
I have a bag that can hold much as well, so that we can keep from say... putting all our rocks in one basket."
"Superb!"
Thediar nods. "Then let's see what we can understand here, so that we actually accomplish something, let alone keep ourselves from making anything worse."
Assisting Lilia's knowledge (arcana):
Assisting Lilia's Spellcraft:
Knowledge (the planes): plus whatever assistance anybody, including Vinroot, can lend.
Knowledge (nature), to see how this ties into the First World: , plus assisstance.
If noodling things is insufficiently conclusive, Thediar will cast divination. I this case, our goal is to break Rhoswen's intrusion into the material world, and the activity in question is disturbing these runestones.
Thediar's divination reveals that these are the stones were once part of the Faenguard which separates the Fellnight Realm from Golarion. The stones are key to closing the breach between two worlds. The divination does not explain the inner workings of the Faenguard or what role these stones played.
"Let's collect these things and get back before the Queen sends anymore company," Lilia adds quickly walking into the cave, picking up the closest rune stone to her, placing it carefully into her haversack.
As if on cue, the sound of thunderous footsteps is heard from the south. It is Vinroot, clambering unsteadily up the boulder path.
"Are ya done already? There's an army of those spriggan critters headin' this way! Climb on, we've got away from here!"
Lilia grabs the remainder of the stones as quickly as she can, upon hearing Vinroot's warning. She stuffs the rocks in both her and Ylera's bag before turning back to the squad, pulling out one piece of parchment before throwing her sack on her back. "You heard the tree. Let's get moving...sounds like things are about to get very busy!"
Sarek races over to Vinroot and helps boost the others onto him. "Thanks for the warning Vinroot."
Ylera joins the general retreat.... uh... retrograde advance.
Do we have time to swing by and viti our newlywed friends. And Lumi, the gnome with whom Tenzekel was in love?
Is the mist dissipating, with the stones removed from this plane of existance?
Do we have time to swing by and viti our newlywed friends. And Lumi, the gnome with whom Tenzekel was in love?
Is the mist dissipating, with the stones removed from this plane of existance?
OOC:
- That's for you to decide.
- The mist is still around, but no more rises from the pond. The stones are still in this plane, but they are not in contact with the water.
Vinroot slips and slides down the trail with the party hanging on for dear life. The lumbering treant is so unsteady on his feet that he causes a landslide. This proves to be a lucky mishap as Fellnight soldiers crowding bottom of the slope are crushed and scattered.
“Well done!” the familiar voice of the gnome Tenzekil calls out. Though he cannot be seen, his voice seems to come from everywhere. “But the wardstones will do you no good! The first army of Queen Rhoswen has already arrived. She will claim this forest, and you can do nothing about that. Now lay down your weapons, give us the wardstones, and perhaps we’ll let you live!” The hum of thousands of bees punctuates his warning as a rising swarm fills the sky.
"I think a bit of fast running might be in order."
"We will not be giving you these stones, Tenzekil. Tell your Queen if she wants them, she can ask for them nicely when we meet face to face, rather than through her messenger boy." Lilia was getting quite put out by the Queen and the gnome.
"Wait. So far, all we have is the sound of the gnome's voice, not addressing any of the particulars, and the sound of the bees. I wouldn't worry too much about that."
"To Lumi," says Thediar, deeply wishing that the forest elders would get around to offering an audience.
It's past noon.
Ah, good point! The runes magically caused the pond to generate mist, but the mist itself is not magically conjured.
"We will not be giving you these stones, Tenzekil. Tell your Queen if she wants them, she can ask for them nicely when we meet face to face, rather than through her messenger boy." Lilia was getting quite put out by the Queen and the gnome.
"Oh? Then you've sealed your own doom, woman! Kill them, kill them all!"
Vinroot suddenly bolts through the regrouping horde, kicking and crushing spriggans underfoot. He reenters the forest without having to break stride, as if the trees themselves were making way for him. The spriggan soldiers are quickly left behind. Vinroot seems to be heading south, back to Devarro's cabin.
I don't think Rhoswen would have tolerated losing the stones right before the meeting. She expected you to sit on the hill complacently until she showed up (presumably.)
Vinroot tirelessly strides back to Devarro's retreat. There, the party discovers that a great host of centaurs, wood elves, satyrs, and sprites and other creatures have gathered in the short time they were away. Atop the hill war banners flutter in a strong breeze.
Among crowd is Devarro, as well as Palombier the unicorn and the dryad sisters.
"Sorry we're late. What did we miss?"
That's okay, Ylera only assumed that the offer of a meeting was a strategy to buy time anyway. :)
"Sorry we're late. What did we miss?"
"It gladdens me to see you all back unharmed," says Devarro. "The conclave of the forest has just begun to assemble. Tonight when all of the Elders arrive, we shall hold a great debate on how to deal with this enemy, who is both new and very old."
"I find it hard to believe there should be any doubt on what to do with the accursed Fellnight Queen," says one of the dryad sisters. "And harder still, that there are those who wish to join her and make war against the human settlers."