Abberdaggus

Note that I revealed that you were overleveled as far as the jungle exploration and the dragon pillars was concerned. I've said nothing about the Fortress....

Fireday, 13 Rova 4719, morning "Old temple...." Pendergrast looks baffled for a second and then laughs it off with a wave, "Oohhh, that shameful fake? I would have obliterated that obvious forgery if you had not come along to interfere! Now it still remains to confuse and lead astray future students - years of good work will be wasted..." He sighs, "But I forgive you - it is a very good forgery and it is easy for less educated minds to be fooled. But everyone who has ever read my treatise on Mwangi history will know that the Bonuwat never ventured this far east from the coast. Claiming that the temple is an authentic structure erected by the Bonuwat people centuries ago would completely contradict my findings! Can you imagine what would happen if students of mine would arrive to study those ruins? They would undoubtedly be unable to recognise it as the fake it is. It would completely undermine my authority on the matter!" He has worked himself up to a righteous indignation at this point and he take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "Well...I suppose there is little chance that anyone would stumple upon the forgery by chance anytime soon. Especially not with those dreadful cultists roaming about. Still....I do have a legacy to attend to..." Map

Hexploration through the jungle (incl. the dragon pillar encounters) were lvl 6. The mine area was lvl 7 - you were right on level through that area. The Charau-ka berserkers were rated at lvl 6 each. I don't know - this is the first AP in PF2e, so perhaps it didn't have all the final tweaks? Still, none of you died, so stop whining 😉 ...obviously due to your superior tactics...

Fireday, 13 Rova 4719, morning The night passes uneventfully except for a torrential down pour stretching over several hours of wet darkness. Renalis shelter keeps out most of the water, but even she can't prevent the river banks from becoming a soggy carpet of mud from the waterline to the trees. As the sun rises, a sweltering heat begins to build saturated by dampness. You praise yourselves lucky that this day can be spent aboard Pendergrasts boat floating gently down river instead of fighting your way through dense jungle. Pendergrast is not in the best of moods when Samrod tries to strike up conversation, but he is not in a position to simply ignore him. "Pfft!!", he scoffs with a haughty frown, "Superstition... fairy tales... nothing more than Pesh for the masses! Rules and rituals to keep the common people docile. I suppose it is very effective at that, but not something a learned scholar such as myself would ever waste my time with. Why do you ask?" Map

No, you just leveled up. Meta-wise you are 'supposed' to be lvl 8 at the stronghold. You are actually two levels ahead fighting the dragon pillars at this point. This part of the AP is not strictly linear.

Oathday, 12 Rova 4719, evening As the sun is already heading towards the western horizon, you figure that it may be time to start looking for a suitable camping site. This particular place in the middle of a swamp seem less ideal, and you may as well begin your trek back down towards the river where you left Pendergrasts boat. A few more hours slogging through puddles of mud and water has you leaving the swamp behind to find solid ground under your feet. As dusk begins to fall, you are stil up on the ridge overlooking the river, but this seems as good a place as any to set camp. Renali gets to work on spinning a camp. Tomorrow, you will get back to the boat and you can drift leisurely downriver towards your next destination. The question is: which destination will that be? According to the maps retrieved from Hezles lab, there is still one dragon pillar that you haven't visited yet and then the Fortress of Sorrow beckons. You may also have business back in Akrivel, but the journey will take around four days to Akrivel and probably more to get back (going against the stream up the river). You will probably also need to decide what to do with your Biloko prisoner. He seems docile enough at this point, but it is still another mouth to feed. Map

We can probably assume that Cirmaran will act the translator if you wish to engage in the interrogation. I assumed that to be the case when Wilder posed a question.

No problem - my weekend turned busy too.

Oathday, 12 Rova 4719, late afternoon The Biloko looks puzzled at Cirmarans question - he twists in what may have been a shrug if he hadn't been restrained. "Lumps of gold - two, maybe three. Our champions have them...". He tries to give directions and from the description you believe the Fortress is the same stronghold that Hezles notes and map referred to as Fortress of Sorrow. Wilders question is equally puzzling. The Biloko doesn't seem to know. They were simply brought here by the cultists and "introduced" to the dragon pillar, which seemed to ignore them. But he does mention that were warned not to approach alone without being accompanied by a cultist for the first time. Map

Well, you know of one more dragon pillar, so there is one way to find out 😉

Oathday, 12 Rova 4719, late afternoon All it takes is time and a bit of effort for Boradur to chop the wooden draconic visage to chips and destroy the arcane runes inscribed in the plinth. But before doing that, the champion takes the time to study the runes in more details. He quickly recognises the runes as arcane - a magical tradition he is not exactly his strong suit. Still, there is some similarity between those and the divine tradition that he is more familiar with, so he does piece together a few things. Much of this is merely a confirmation of what you have discovered the hard way: The dragon pillar is enchanted to shoot eye beams at creatures not specifically recognised as allies - the runes are quiet intricate and it would seem that by 'allies' the dragon pillar not just recognises Cinderclaw cultists, but it can also 'learn' to disregard targets designated as 'allies' by a cultist. It requires visual targeting and this particular pillar is empowered to shoot acid sprays at the target. You have already devised several ways to disable the pillars (the 'sack over the head' idea appeared to work like a charm - only a pity that it was attempted at one of the few pillars which actually had a physical effect that the sack cloth could not resist). From his studies, it is clear to Boradur that the pillar could also be disabled by strategically erasing some of the runes. It requires a delicate touch, however, as doing it wrong or with brute force could backfire. Mechanics As you have discovered, one option to disable the pillar is trying to topple it over with an athletics (expert) check. Another option is erasing some of the runes with a thievery (expert) check. You also previously did one with a dispel magic spell - though a relatively high rank is needed to have a decent chance of success. Map

Oathday, 12 Rova 4719, late afternoon The Biloko stares at Cirmaran blankly for a second before his meaning dawns on it. "Ah - you mean the Cinderclaws...?" The name the cultists have given themselves is pronounced awkwardly, but it does not seem to provoke either a sense of reverence or loathing in the little fey. "They came...many moons ago....offered gold for guarding....that thing..." His restraints make gesturing difficult, but its head nods in the direction of the felled dragon pillar. "Our best fighters...our champions...went to the Fortress to guard the cult leader." It looks at Cirmaran with expressionless eyes - neither enmity nor fear shines through, only a sense of defeat. Wilder briefly studies the objects found, but his tired head can't make any sense of them - perhaps after a good nights sleep. However, he packs it all up and makes sure to leave nothing behind of magical nature. Mechanics An 18 is not gonna cut it at this level. But at least it is not a crit fail :) Map

I stand corrected! I remembered that I wanted to make sure that at least one of you could use them (Boradur at that time), but I couldn't recall that I was in such a generous mood that I included the alchemical versions as well.

Oathday, 12 Rova 4719, late afternoon Wilder wanders off in search of anything of interest as Samrod and Cirmaran engages in haggling over the newfound treasure. Occasionally, he invokes a charm to sense the presence of magical auras and it doesn't take long for him to sense something coming from the hollow tree, where the Bilokos awere hiding. Within, Wilder finds the remains of a small campfire along with scraps of bones, some dried roots, nuts and jungle fruit. One sprig of berries look remarkably fresh as if just plucked off a tree. There are also a roll of thin twine and a small collection of bells and wind-chimes in various forms. Mechanics Wilder learns that the most powerful magical effect is 6th rank. Map

Yeah - you know, four critters with a full quiver of 20 arrows each, less the few they intended to drill into Cirmaran. And no, I didn't add those to save you the trip back to Akrivel. It was hardcoded into the AP - funny coincidence that you should run across a band of archers just as you run out of arrows yourselves. I believe the recepies were for healing potions, which are magical in nature - not alchemical. So magical crafting would be appropriate here. With those recepies you should be able to brew healing potions of any level if you like. The Biloko will be rolling, if or when it tries to get lose. That would be an escape attempt against Cirmarans thievery DC = 24.