Pathfinder 1E IC - Tideruler: The Fall of Laholt

"The rituals here tend more toward bloody and vengeful than celebratory and joyful. If we're not greeted soon and you think we should get in, there is an abandoned half-hidden path downthere. Maybe it is not blocked. But we should wait for someone to come out and greet us." Arduniel acts as polite host. "This group may be outsiders, but they are here at request of Goliath. They are good. Calm."

Rune wrapped around the staff moves agitated by remembered anger of its master. It signs something onto historians arm. The mark fades quickly.
"They're here to help."
He looks and answers in hard to follow language consisting of hisses and clicks such as sliding, moving and cooling metal might make.
"Yes, Furia. I know. I won't be discourteous."

EVERYONE

Daxio's gaze roamed through the courtyard, absorbing all signs of magic and divine invocation. At least three distinct orders of rituals can be seen, performed in diverse moments: druidic wards, divine sacrifices and hunting rituals. The marrow bone and the humanoid remnants are the signs of the last ones, and it becomes clear that the area has been used either to heal or to strengthen bodies. This is not an uncommon sight in times of war among the Fae. Of course, they don't understand the concept of war as humans do. To them, it's more like a wild hunt, and the rituals served as much to honor the enemy as to help in the kill. Aside from that, signs suggest the presence of many magical wards. Odds are that the inner halls are protected by runes and circles of protection. At least, the external signs show a history of lengthy protective rituals, performed periodically...

Meanwhile, Aranel confronts the central piece. The likeness is disturbing. At first, it seems that the statue's presence denotes the existence of yet another dragon cult, associating the nature god with the ancestral wyrms that crowded Gaelia in the past. Aranel realizes, though, that the statue is quite new, and that the general aspects on the efigy are quite similar to her own. The general shape denounces an experienced artisan's hand, probably someone used to carve silenes in the woods.

"(...) But we should wait for someone to come out and greet us."

Click to expand...

After Arduniel's brief intervention, something stirs right behind the branches at the door. It is as if part of the colors within the arches detached themselves from the mass, moving aside to make themselves visible before departing to the hall behind.

A watcher. They remain hidden for the most part. And they're pretty good at it.

INSIDE THE CASTLE

The steps of a Wing Watcher echo through the halls. Inside, what once was the main hall of Alessia is now an empty throne room. Water creates a mirror on the floor, isolating the old throne of Alessia in a solitary column, now covered in moss and twigs.

Inside, Alice Chalk debates the last details of a task laid on her by the absent priestess Galena through her diviner, the nymph that now helps Chalk with her main concerns.

Suddenly, both ladies are interrupted by the timely arrival of the Watcher.

"Forgive me, madams. Visitors at the gates. Some of them are... human. Mostly outsiders. Arduniel vouches for them. Goliath's guests, he says." - he awaits for their response.

@Neurotic @KahlessNestor @Shayuri @Charlotte of Oz @MetaVoid

EDIT: Problem solved! They react upon friendly displays, so....

Laholt/Alessia
Afternoon
Round 0

“I’m guessing there are a lot of magical wards around,” Daxio warned the others. “Don’t go wandering.”

With a simple word, Daxio’s eyes swirled, allowing him to see the ebb and flow of magic around him, and which spells lay over what areas Hopefully it would keep them from wandering into a magical trap.

[sblock=Actions and Rolls]
Move:
Action: Cast Detect Magic
[/sblock]

[sblock=Ministats]
HP: 122/122 NL: 0
AC: 19 FF: 14 T: 15
CMD: 20
Fort: 10 Ref: 10 Will: 13
Armed: Dagger
Arcane Reservoir: 9/15/day
Consume Spells: 5/5/day

Conditions: Detect Magic

Spells Prepared
0 (9): Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Read Magic
1 (4/4/5): Burning Hands, Charm Person, Disguise Self, Magic Missile, Vanish
2 (4/4/5): Darkvision, Hideous Laughter, Invisibility, Scorching Ray, See Invisibility
3 (4/4/4): Dispel Magic, Hold Person, Suggestion, Fly
4 (4/4/3): Charm Monster, Confusion, Greater Invisibility
5 (4/4/2): Dominate Person, Hold Monster
6 (2/2/1): Mass Suggestion

Spell Book:
0: All
1: Burning Hands, Charm Person, Disguise Self, Enlarge Person, Featherfall, Grease, Liberating Command, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield, Silent Image, Vanish
2: Darkvision, Hideous Laughter, Invisibility, Scorching Ray, See Invisibility
3: Dispel Magic, Hold Person, Suggestion, Fly
4: Black Tentacles, Charm Monster, Confusion, Greater Invisibility
5: Dominate Person, Feeblemind, Hold Monster
6: Greater Dispel, Mass Suggestion
[/sblock]

"Visitors? Well now." The tiefling Alice flicked her tail this way and that, as she thought. "Well, if Arduniel vouches for them, then I suppose that's good enough for me. Shall we go out and say hello, or bring them in here?"

Aranel stood still, following the etches in the stone with her eyes, trying to get a feel for the hands that made it, and the passion that moved them. Was this figure an object of devotion or fear? Or was she drawing a distinction that didn't exist?

Is it so strange? If the dragons are truly eternal, I cannot be the first to bear their mark.

And yet the stone was new, with little weathering. Was it intended to BE her? Or was there another like her here, now?

Food for thought.

"I wonder if this is a likeness of the priestess herself," she said aloud. "In hindsight, we might have asked for more information about her before coming here. Ah well. Daxio, well spotted on the defenses. As we don't want to set them off by mistake, I think it best we announce ourselves."

THRONE ROOM

The seeress glances at Alice.

"Well, the less they see, the better." - the Watcher simply assents with a nod, knowing better than to question the maidens' decisions. The three know how many magic wards are sprung around. Anyone unknown to the castle would trigger them. Besides, Galena goes out of her way to keep the inner areas of the castle a secret to outsiders - more so if they are human.

"I'll alert the other Watchers. We'll be at the vigils."

[When you are ready, you can introduce yourself to the others.]

COURTYARD

Daxio's spell works wonders. The lay lines become apparent, and he sees wards concentrated at all passages. Runes, ready to come to life, are placed beyond the arches, strategically drawn to be the first thing anyone sees when going across. Probably they're aligned to be triggered as someone goes across the passages, ready to confuse and misguide any unaware victim. Not the most powerful ward, but enough at the hands of a skilled conjurer... Beyond such wards, it seems that the windows also hold special sanctuary incantations, as well as a few blessings. Anyone occupying those areas would be immune to attacks at first, and even if compelled to strike, one would still have the aid of the gods in targeting a poor victim down below. And the statue at the center, that's one for the books... It seems to hold a most peculiar spell, one that Daxio finds difficult to identify... It's fluid, constantly changing, responding to the environment...

Physically, the statue holds a certain vagueness of details, above all in its features. As Aranel approaches, she realizes that the piece is deliberately drawn to be as generic as possible. It's almost as if that face could be anyone's.

[Ok, I need Aranel to roll a Will save for me against DC 17!]
[MENTION=24380]Neurotic[/MENTION] [MENTION=6801311]KahlessNestor[/MENTION] [MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION] [MENTION=6847138]Charlotte of Oz[/MENTION] [MENTION=87106]MetaVoid[/MENTION]

"This place disturbs me," Zyara says. "As if we are not wanted. I fear the word of Goliath is not as protective as we were led to believe." Zyara also examines the statue closely.

Will save [roll0] +2 if it's Enchantment, +2 if it's charm/compulsion, and these are cumulative it's both.

"No time like the present, then." Alice straightened her hair, and headed out towards the courtyard, not bothering to conceal her footsteps.

When she emerged, the others saw a female tiefling, her skin a deep blue, her hair a blazing and clearly artificial red, and her clothing a very tasteful assembly of colors, assuming your version of taste made a peacock exclaim "no, dial it back a bit." She was armed, but the rapier was at her side; she had a very carefully layered crisscross of potion belts on her person, carrying all the trappings of at least an amateur alchemist.



"Hello, all," she said, as she popped her collar. Her tail flicked warily, hovering near a potion marked with an X. "If you haven't heard of me, I'm Alice Chalk, and I'm an investigator. Now you know who I am, so it'd be swell if you'd all tell me who you are?"