"I really could use a rest to regain spells. I have used several today already." Armania stated.
"Will the Saffron Prince have an issue with us activating the last Stela?" Erevel asked.
"I could send Barnabas to scout the area to see if there is any creatures wandering the city or at the Stela." Agna suggested.
"It would be good to know if any wandering monsters could hinder us on our way," Armania added.
"I will send Barnabas to scout," Agna replied.
Barnabas reported back that there were no monsters wandering the city, the mass of green vines had grown even larger though. The entry to the Snarl was free of vines and from the lake he saw no people of monsters at the Stela. A different return path through the city did not reveal anything different.
"Well we should be off tomorrow. Will we need to cut through the vines? We haven't tried that yet." Armania mused.
"Barnabas says there is an open path to the Snarl, just not the most direct route." Agna reported.
After a couple of limited wishes on Armania and Erevel the heroes took a night's rest and awoke with no ill effects. Barnabas was again sent to scout ahead as the spell casters memorized new spells for the day. Barnabas reported no difference from the previous excursion so the party headed out for the Snarl.
The journey was not filled with any attacks, although the growth of green vines has spread further, even climbing the tallest tower buildings in certain areas. Entry to the Snarl was not blocked in any fashion and the party advanced to the area of the last remaining Stela. Erevel poked her head warily into the chamber and saw nothing but the lake and the Stela. She stepped in further to make sure all the area was empty. Gavril followed cautiously.
The whole party entered the area and spread out around the Stela. Ciprian approached the pillar and began the ritual once again. After about 5 minutes of the ritual Aeptolinu appeared to the west of the stela.
"Ah I see you are back once again. What are your plans now." he inquired.
"We are just activating this Stela. We hope to be out of this accursed city soon," Armania responded.
"You are failures. Humans are the worst creatures upon Golarion. You have made a mess of this garden of a planet." he intoned with a deep voice full of disdain. His empty eye sockets were inviting but the party was aware enough to avert their eyes from direct viewing of their former guide
Gavril identified him as his quarry as he moved around behind the creature activating his haste. Gavril then felt his mind invaded as Aeptolinu took a step away.
"You are fools, destroying the planet with no care for the lives of others or the natural plants and creatures. You have failed in every aspect of interaction. Attacking each other with wars, laying waste to the land. ALL HUMANS MUST BE ELIMINATED."
Gavril swallowed the pain but was sickened. Erevel hurried over to join Gavril around Aeptolinu while Ciprian kept up his performance of the ritual. Armania moved closer and fired a lightning bolt at the monster but he seemed to take reduced damage from it. Kaklatath tried hold monster but it failed. Agna fired arrows which did little damage. Ursina cast Bless on the party as Aeptolinu took another turn, withdrawing by flying up and away from Erevel and then moving twenty feet into the air with a view of Ciprian.
Seeing what occurred Gavril headed to Armania hoping for a fly spell but not before seeing the gaze of Aeptolinu and feeling his strength, charisma and constitution drain. To the party's surprise Aeptolinu then set his sights on Ciprian whose mind was overloaded with a glut of psychic information which did damage and left Ciprian exhausted. Erevel donned his flying wings and prepared to move to attack while Ciprian paused the ritual to identify the creature as a broken one Manasaputra with adaptive resistance and spring attack. He then began a performance against it.
"Bow to me. You have failed to acknowledge me as your better. All get on your knees and beg forgiveness now." the Saffron Prince shouted.
Armania, ignoring Gavril for the moment then cast Starfall on the two enemies, which did some damage but otherwise did not blind them. Kaklatath moved toward the Prince and attacked with her pincers even though she saw the empty eye sockets of Aeptolinu. As she did so a black cloud appeared around the Prince limiting sight within and without it. Agna recalling where the Prince was lined up a bow shot but missed badly in the darkness. Ursina attempted to cast a spell at Aeptolinu but it sputtered out of her hand. Aeptolinu still spitting venom at the humans in the party attacked Armania's mind leaving her sickened. Gavril fired arrows at the creature, hitting with two but they did no sonic damage.
Aeptolinu attacked Gavril right back flooding his mind and leaving him exhausted and stunned. Erevel used her attacks while grappled and found that the darkness was an illusion. She did some damage but less than expected. Ciprian cast Purging Finale and removed the stunned condition from Gavril then again beginning the performance. Armania cast fireball at Aeptolinu as she could not see in the cloud. The spell again did little damage to the flying monstrosity. Kaklatath attacked with her pincers but missed. She let all know that the cloud was an illusion.
The Saffron Prince let loose the grapple and moved 5 feet away where she cast blindness on Agna. Agna moved forward slowly and attacked with her sword but missed the creature although she now knew the darkness was not real. The Saffron Prince shifted around Agna as she missed. Ursina headed toward Gavril and healed him but Aeptolinu flew down to Ciprian and touched him. Ciprian took damage and was less dexterous.
Gavril fired his bow at Aeptolinu but did no damage. He wasn't so lucky as the Azlant flew down touched him and then continued to fly away. Gavril dropped prone in a fit of convulsions even though Ciprian stopped his performance to give Gavril a second chance to avoid the fit. Erevel moved next to the two images of the Saffron Prince and knocked the final one away. Ciprian restarted the Performance and tried to hide behind the Stela.
Armania moved to the south where she could see both Aeptolinu and the Saffron Prince. She then let loose Starfall which damaged both of them. Kaklatath moved and attacked with her pincers, The Saffron Prince shifted away from Agna and Erevel and suddenly there were two of him. Agna, guided by Kaklatath moved to try and hit the Prince but missed. Ursina moved to a central area and cast Prayer. Aeptolinu moved face to face with Ciprian and slammed him while continuing his diatribe against humans.
Gavril continued to be convulsing on the ground as Aeptolinu now attacked Ciprian with four slams, one a critical as Ciprian staggered under the blows. Erevel shifted and again attacked the Saffron Prince dealing mighty damage as she her sword finally bit flesh. Ciprian fought back with his echo blade and Armania, even though weakened by the gaze of Aeptolinu, recalled Starfall and this time the Azlant hit the dirt. Kaklatath again moved forward and attacked with both Pincers hitting the image once and the Prince once. Agna again guided by Kaklatath moved up and swung but again she missed and the enemy shifted. But as she did Erevel, calling on her strength, used a special attack to drop the Prince to the dirt also.
The party had several items to consider now. Gavril was convulsing, so Ursina used Restoration to repair his Constitution drain, thus making him more healthy. Ciprian immediately restarted the Ritual. It would be more difficult now but he at least did not fail, at least yet. Armania tried to detect magic on the two enemies. All that showed was the fancy robe the Saffron Prince wore.
Agna was blind, so Ursina used the Staff of Life to heal Agna. When she could once again see Agna wondered if everyone had survived as she scanned the battlefield. Ciprian spent the next twenty five minutes finishing the Ritual. The flattened face began to glow as he continued. Ciprian's mind was overwhelmed by thoughts of Carcosa and nihilism. He continued pushing through until the face of the stela softly glowed with several yellow, eldritch runes. The stela also pulsed with power as the party felt heard a rush of wind through the snarl. Ciprian felt a blast of energy and took damage as he fell to his knees upon finishing the ritual.
Armania picked up the robe from the Saffron Prince and tried to identify it but failed.
Picking himself up and breathing deeply Ciprian asked who needed healing and when the party gathered round he began the Greater Paths of Glory once again. After the healing was finished the group began to discuss what to do next.
"Do you want to go to Carcosa right now?" he inquired.
"I really need to recover some spells. I used most of mine on these battles," Armania responded.
"We could use some recovery from the ability damage we have taken also," Gavril piped in.
"I forgot how weak I felt also," Armania recalled.
"So shall we head to the campsite?" Erevel asked.
Just then two winged Archons appeared at the glowing Star Stela.
"You will give us the book now!" one of the two intoned.
"You promised it to us if you found it," the other added.
"We certainly did not promise it. We said we could talk about it if we found it." Ciprian responded.
"NO! You will turn over the book NOW!" the Archons bellowed.
"We are Getting Away now!" Armania said as she invoked the already cast spell.
The party appeared back in the Naga lair of the Oraculum.
"Aren't those angels good creatures?" Gavril stammered.
"They certainly don't act good," Armania said.
"I recall that they said they were from some level of Heaven and were guardians of "evil" or "blasphemous" books," Ursina added. "They want to take that book with them."
"What if we just give them the book?" Erevel asked. "Do we need it now?"
"If we don't use the book during the last ritual it will cost deeply in both gold and sanity." Ciprian said sadly.
"I'm casting the last limited wish on myself," Armania said as she cast it.
"Do you want me to identify that Robe?" Ciprian asked.
"Yeah, we should find out what it is," Erevel seconded.
Ciprian tried to determine the magic of the robe. It turned out to be a cursed item. It was ostensibly a Robe of Stars granting luck bonus on saves and bonus to the wearer. It also gave Astral travel and the creation of a shuriken mad of magically hardened gold. But after a week of wearing the garment the luck bonus was replaced by a decrement and Wisdom was lost each time Astral Travel was used. The shuriken were anarchic shuriken. After the week the wearer became permanently chaotic evil and pursues increasingly delusional goals of domination, enrichment and anarchy.
"Now we know why the Saffron Prince acted as he did," Gavril concluded.
"We should rest for the night and then head back to the campsite. We can get all our spells in order and then cast the last ritual." Ciprian suggested.
As the party began to turn in, the Archons once again appeared around them in the Oraculum.
"You will give us the book now. Or you will die for your insolence." they stated in unison.
Gavril moved up to flank one Archon and attacked with his full force. Some of the damage made it past the reduction.
"Why are you attacking us? We are the only ones who are actually doing something to stop the evil overtaking Golarion," Armania tried to persuade them.
Gavril again loosed his multi-attacks making the Archon look a little weak. But the Archon let loose a Flame Strike on Ursina, Kaklatath, Armania and Agna. Ursina then moved quickly over and killed the offending enemy. The other Archon swung its flaming sword at Erevel and hit even critically once for much damage.
"That would have killed most of us," Gavril remarked.
Erevel then returned the favor killing the last Archon.
"See I told you that we were Golarion's only hope," Armania crowed.
Healing was again the method of the day as the party cleaned up the fire damage.
"We should go to the campsite now that we have eliminated all the creatures who are after us," Armania said.
"We are not sure though, there always seem to be more," Agna interjected.
On the way to the campsite the party noted that the vegetative green growth had started to recede. It seemed as though some great weight had been lifted from the city. They even noticed some birds flying above the city. Perhaps life could return to Neruzavin.
DM's Notes: The party will be 15th level when they complete the Path to the Black Stars Ritual and find themselves in Carcosa.
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