"Would it be possible to get another Restoration in the morning? I am still feeling weak." Gavril opined.
"You can't have another one for that case for 4 more days." Ursina responded.
"I have to live this way for that much more time? This is a pain."
"We can remove or reduce some madnesses for others." Ursina shot back.
"On another note, can you check to see if I have some sort of disease or poison? I have had a problem for more than one day," Gavril again whined.
"Sure let's check," Ursina said studying the health of Gavril. "Seems you do have a disease, I could cast a Remove Disease spell, but only if you quit carping about the weakness."
"Oh, sure now you complain. Well go ahead get this disease out of my body."
Ursina cast the spell and it was successful. "Still not sure where I got that from," Gavril said.
The party then spent a night and awoke refreshed for another day of adventuring in Neruzavin. They decided to head to the Snarl and talk with the Saffron Prince. They had no idea what he might request of them or even if he cared, but it was one of the few places still not visited.
Kaklatath had suggested clearing out the rest of the underground before trying to seal in the Polyps but Ciprian was having none of it, at least at this point.
The party headed for the Snarl and hopefully a meeting with Hoshbagh, when suddenly Agna yelled out in pain. Gavril looked around and saw no enemy but Agna was certainly majorly hurting. "We had this invisible thing attack us once before and then it left. It might be back." He then moved over close to Agna and swung into a square where he actually hit something.
A huge gust of wind knocked Agna prone and into Gavril who fell as she undercut his feet. Agna and Erevel both took damage from the wind.
"As I recall Invisibility Purge does not work on this creature," Armania recalled as she cast haste.
Ciprian moved to the south and east and then cast See Invisibility finding the monster in line with the three who took wind damage, five feet in the air. Kaklatath moved forward away to try and block Armania as Erevel used her scent to moved south where she eventually found the wispy creature but she could not attack. Agna stayed down and drank a potion as Ursina cast See Invisibility also and then moved behind Erevel to help guide her. Gavril spent his time moving toward Erevel and tried to end up flanking or close to it.
Agna stood up and fired her bow at the thing, hitting with two arrows, "Take that you wretched monster." Ciprian and Ursina moved to the side trying to make sure the party wasn't too aligned. Ursina cast Hold Monster on the creature but it seemed to shrug the spell off.
Gavril fired off an arrow at the wispy creature which then flew down to attack Ciprian on a flyby attack. It then flew off to the south. Armania cast Greater Invisibility on herself and stepped up on a building to get a view of the monster. Ciprian cast Deafening Song Bolt which did damage and deafened the creature as Erevel donned her winged cloak. Agna fired a volley of arrows with critical success which clearly hurt the monster while Ursina followed with a fear spell. Gavril followed with more arrows after which the creature dissipated and was no more.
After healing up Agna and Ciprian the party continued on toward the snarl and a hopeful meeting with the Saffron Prince. As they grew close Ciprian reminded everyone of the haunt at the entrance. There was writing on the walls describing the failures of humans and others on Golarion. Apetolinu had apparently been busy over the millennia recording these failures. It probably came from his nihilistic view of Golarion after Earthfall. The party approached the entry cautiously ready to bolt across as a group. Apetolinu walked around a corner and once again greeted the humans as lawful heirs of Azlant.
"Why have to come to my domain once again? Do you require something else?" he asked.
"We have come to speak with the Saffron Prince. He alone we have not met yet," Erevel called out.
"Come on in and greet the Prince, he is, as usual, here." Apetolinu responded.
The party dashed across the entrance and emerged on the far side with a slight of wave of regret and nihilistic despair. Each character saw some of the deeds that they carried out on behalf of Count Lowls that have troubled them since regaining their memories. Apetolinu pointed the way south to the realm of the Saffron Prince.
"Bow before your sovereign, the Saffron Prince!"
"What are you the Prince of?" Gavril asked.
"Neruzavin is MY realm, bend the knee in obeisance," he declared.
"Who is the King? Do you have to report to him?" Armania queried moving into view.
Agna and Ursina followed as the whole party set eyes upon this nightmare.
"A motley crew to be sure, you must all honor your sovereign," the creature exclaimed. "Be glad I do not invoke the King in Yellow on your insolence."
"Shouldn't you be wearing yellow to honor him?" Armania said trying to dismiss his argument.
"The King in Yellow has honored me with this robe, it is of his making."
"You could have fooled us," Ciprian added.
"What brings you mere mortals to my City?"
Ciprian launched into his long description of the party and its travails, quickly though the Saffron Prince seemed to lose interest in this tale.
"I require you to bring offerings to me. Bring me the head of Hoshbagh! I desire her death."
"That is interesting. We were asked by another to bring the head of Hoshbagh. What has she done to incur this wrath?" Ciprian asked.
"Who could ask for this? I alone decide who lives or dies in Neruzavin."
"It was that heresy devil Eshimal," Gavril responded with alacrity.
"Fine bring me his head also!"
"What would we receive for bringing you these heads?" Armania queried.
"I will give you each a blessing," the Saffron Prince said smugly.
"Just a blessing, what good is that?" Armania continued baiting the Prince.
The Saffron Prince was becoming more and more agitated during this conversation and said "I could end you all in one stroke" as he stood and Ciprian could see his hands casting a spell after which a double of himself appeared next to the throne.
"I can do better than that," Armania said as she cast mirror image and eight copies of her appeared.
Ursina cast Greater Invisibility as Gavril moved up toward the throne and almost bowed his knee to the basalt stone. Agna notched and arrow, ready to fire if a battle began. The Saffron Prince approached Gavril and said sneeringly "I give you a blessing," as he reached out to touch Gavril. After this the Price looked at Erevel with a Hypnotic Stare.
Erevel moved around to flank the Prince with Gavril and just as she began to swing her mighty sword a cloud of black dense smoke appeared around the creature and extended out to cover at least Gavril and Erevel. Erevel lost sight of Gavril but continued her attack as the creature had some cover from the smoke. Erevel's aim was true but she apparently hit the second, unreal Prince.
Having lost sight of his two party members and the Prince, Ciprian tried to identify the monster from the long discussion. It was revealed to be a Dorvae with additional Mesmerism capabilities. The monster also had Spell Resistance. Ciprian did not start a Performance as Erevel and Gavril could not see him and waited for the smoke to dissipate or the monster to exit. Kaklatath also could not target the creature and waited for some chance to act.
Armania called for the party members to exit the smoke and Ursina echoed this call. Gavril attacked none the less and seemed to hit the secondary Prince. At that the Prince moved out of the flanked position, but still next to Gavril who continued his attacks. Many attacks missed the mark, while two actually seemed to do damage. Agna stood ready to fire if she could get a shot.
Unbeknown to the party, Gavril was targeted by a spell and then the prince moved away again into the darkness. Erevel blindly moved in the direction she saw the creature heading. This movement eventually led to finding the creature and Erevel's attack bit true this time. Ciprian and Kaklatath continued to wait outside the smoke.
Armania taking more initiative cast Stone Call over the smoke while she admonished her compatriots for not following her orders. The falling stones damaged the Erevel and the Saffron Prince. Ursina, less patient, called down a flame strike into the middle of the smoke damaging both Erevel and the Prince.
"Come on out, we are ready to attack," she hollered.
Gavril, surprisingly said, "Erevel I am coming for you," as she moved toward Erevel's voice. Unfortunately for him he Dorvae got an attack off as he moved and used his swords on a party member.
"I told you that you would destroy each other," the Saffron Prince said with an evil laugh.
Now the Prince attacked and grabbed Erevel. Writhing snakes bit into Erevel as she was drawn to the body of the monster. After that she felt a wave of despair and was shaken.
Erevel tried to escape the grab but was unsuccessful and as she could not move she drew Teralindar's Honor.
DM's Notes: The party earned 6400 XP for the night and are in a difficult battle.
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