The Blakros Museum rises into the night sky, its single black spire severing the full moon in twain. The black iron gates surrounding the exhibition hall grind in protest against the wind. Beyond, the museum’s large oaken doors stand wide open, a silver-gray mist belching forth from the cavernous darkness within. You wonder how you ended up here, standing at the precipice of unknown terrors, and instantly Venture-Captain Adril Hestram’s wide looming face is conjured into your minds’ eye. His booming words ring out from memory as clearly as he spoke them only one hour ago...
“Apparently the trouble at Blakros Museum began this morning, shortly after a wayward Pathfinder named Lugizar Trantos returned to Absalom after months spent in the Mwangi Expanse. Supposedly, instead of coming straight to the Lodge to report in, he went to Blakros, sold his finds to Nigel, and then disappeared with a hefty sum of gold. The few who glimpsed Lugizar claimed he was much changed by his time in the Mwangi... gaunt, his eyes yellowed and unfocused, a strange rasping cough that seemed to wrack his now wasted frame. Whatever he brought back with him, we believe it is the cause of the Blakros Museum’s ills. Root it out.”
He hands you a map depicting a layout of the museum. "You may want to head to the offices first to find Nigel as he may have some insight into whatever foul curse vexes the place."
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Narayan Singh is a towering, powerfully built nagaji whose broad smile shows far too many sharp teeth to be calming or comforting. It is entirely heartfelt though.
Greetings friends! I am Narayan Ssingh. I sspread joy where I can, and sseek to end the evils that sstop it. I offer a warning. It sseems ghouls sswarm to meet me wherever I travel in my quessts, but sso far no friends have been their feasst, sso hold to hope.
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A spry, diminutive redheaded human appears with a bright smile of recognition as she runs up to join the Pathfinder group. With a small leap, she jumps on the burly nagaji and gives him a hug.
"Narayan! How are you! So good to see you!" She hops off him again to land on the ground. With a wink, she adds, "Read any good books lately?"
She involuntarily stretches and addresses the rest of the group. "My name's Copper Tam. Pleasure to meet you all."
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Grynt, a tall and brooding half-Orc in a dark grey cloak, cautiously looks at the other Pathfinders who will be his companions in their upcoming mission. He is wary because prior to joining the Pathfinders, he has never really been accepted by anyone, other than his mother, and is used to working alone...
"I am Grynt."
He nods curtly at the others, gives a slight smile, and stands against the wall...
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Lady Alya De-Qill is A tall slender elf stands close to Venture-Captain Adril Hestram, in her hands a small note book and silver point pen. She has on some kind of uniform. Simple but well made. It has the look of an officers uniform, but of no army known. By her feet a well made but small back pack. She took down the names, locations and events in a sort of short hand. When the map is offered she takes it for the party. Then when the Venture-Captain she asks him.
"Could you describe Nigel Aldain, Lugizar Trantos for me, also who informed you Lugizar had gone too Nigel and sold artifacts t o him. I may wish to interview this person."
She says.
Then once the Venture-Captain has responded she again takes notes as the group introduces themselves to each other.
As last to turns to them. In a well spoken and formal voice she says.
"I am Lady Alya De-Qill, My profession is that of Investigating Detective. Venture-Captain Hestram here as requested that I accompany your group on this mission. So as to have my survives and skills at your disposal. I hope you will except my assistance."
She says this all formally as if it was some kind of contact.
She waits for a response form the group.
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She looks at him a moment as if working something out in her head.
"It is not you Narayan, I... have a dislike of physical contact. however I understand it is necessary at times."
She says in the same tone, then as if wanting to change the subject, she looks closer at him. Taking the time to view him from crest of head to scale of foot.
Taking 10 on all Kn rolls With the added 1d6 gives
10+3+8 an all but Local which is +9. 21 average.
"You are a Nagaji are you not, you have no armor and scales alone would not help in a fight so I suspect you may argument with magic of some kind. You have a Monk's Spade and your simple clothing added to your lack of Armor... I would say you have been trained in the way of fist and claw."
For the 1st time she smiles, and at him.
"Am I correct in my observations?"
she asks.
Hestram grumbles for a bit, shifting papers about while he looks through the stack. "We have an agent who is a talented sketcher of portraits. Given Nigel's past history of the society, it's prudent to have this one on hand in case he tries to... procure items that some of our newer agents bring back from their expeditions. You're right to ask for it."
He hands over a page with the face of an elf sketched onto it. When you are done looking it over, he takes it back.
"Lugizar is of more mild reknown than Nigel, so we've not got a portrait of him. Human, male, hearty enough to tackle an expedition to the Expanse, though, as I said, others say he appeared quite diminished from his latest experience."
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Narayan nods and smiles at Alya's deductions, It is true that I borrow magicss from the sskills of others, but a wand, a crosssbow, my sspade, my fisst, your witss - all are tools of the sself.
Narayan is a simple soul who likes to take things as he finds them.
Narayan is bad at seeking out information on the principals of a mission.
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As she stands there see thinks about what she knows of the location.
Kn Local
Kn History
Then seeing the others have trouble with the locals she walks over and joins them. Asking about things she new and clarification.
"Are you having problems here, maybe I can help"
lifting out a few gold coins to loosen tongues .
As for Lugizar Trantos, you learn that he spent the better part of a year in the Mwangi Expanse. At first he wrote letters to his brother and wife here in Absalom, a fellow agent shares, but after a few months these stopped coming and most gave him up for dead. His letters spoke of a lucrative find at one point, three idols of dark wood carved in the shape of bearded monkeys. After greasing a few palms, you learn another bit of news: The last of his letters evidenced an unhinged mind, and was covered in strange sketches of monkey paws. He described dark eyes glaring out from the mists. Shortly after his return to Absalom, many of the monkeys and apes in the city’s menageries attacked their keepers and fled into greater Absalom.
Armed with this knowledge, you return quickly to the present, facing the doors of the museum. It's late in the evening, and the nearby streets seem eerily quiet for such a lovely evening. The museum’s large oaken doors stand wide open, a silver-gray mist belching forth from the cavernous darkness within.
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Grynt, unused to and uncomfortable speaking in groups, speaks up thinking that he needs to share the info he learned...
"This Trantos fellow spent a long time in the Mwangi...his letters mentioned finding 3 monkey idols...apparently he went mad...mentioned evil eyes in the mist...monkeys and apes around Absalom escaped their cages and fled, after his return..."
Looking at the silver-gray mist, Grynt thinks it must be connected to the mist mentioned by Trantos...
"Perhaps we should protect ourselves from this mist..."
Grynt takes the bandana from his explorer's outfit and ties it firmly around his head, below his eyes to cover his nose and mouth to prevent breathing in the mist. He then draws his bow and cautiously enters the museum, looking for anything out of the ordinary...
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After talking to a few contacts and others Lady Alya comes back to the group. She takes out her note book and adds to Grynt information what she has learned.
"Within the histoircal records, Mwangi’s was known for the darkest interior worship of a demon lord by the name of Angazhan, who is described in the Book of the Damned as a thing of primordial darkness, a foul-breathed demon who grunts prophecies of blood to apes and madmen. The jungle is his beating heart. A dread city was founded in the Expanse hundreds of years ago by cultists who bowed to Angazhan. It is said they captured the souls of monkeys in the wood-grains of strange idols called Tik Taan. The monkeys’ tormented spirits became the slaves and playthings of Angazhan, who murdered their playful whims and replaced them with a deep-seated hate and wild madness. These Tik Taan are rumored to shred the sanity of anyone who spends too long in their presence.
She looks up,
"I think we may know what Lugizar Trantos may have done, found and spent time with and sold on. As Grynt said he spent the better part of a year in the Mwangi Expanse."
she looks back at her note book, flipping pages.
"Are here we are, A contact I know said, At first he wrote letters to his brother and wife here in Absalom, but after a few months these stopped coming and he was given up for dead. His letters spoke of a lucrative find at one point, three idols of dark wood carved Grynt talked of, All in the shape of bearded monkeys."
She looks up again, and puts the note book away.
"A bit of coin got me this next tit-bit of gossip. I was told that the last of his letters evidenced an unhinged mind, and was covered in strange sketches of monkey paws. Then as Grynt said he talked of dark eyes glaring out from the mists."
Then she says in a low voice.
"The I got from the local guard and its not be be wildly said but. Around the time that Lugizar Trantos return from Absalom, many of the monkeys and apes in the city’s menageries attacked their keepers and fled into greater Absalom. There where Whereabouts are still unknown. I am sorry that was long but there was a lot of information to collate and cross check."
She says and stops.
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As the other get ready, she checks her things. She has also got a small bag of sweet cakes on her way around collecting information. This she checked in her back back. Then while the others to enter, she takes out her combat knife and locks it into place on her belt, then her light cross bow. She checks it has a bolt in and ready. She has no need for light, and taking off her smoked glasses. Follows the others in.
The museum proper is large and well furnished, built with gothic architecture (reflecting its original purpose) rising out of the night like a great, looming shadow. You push open the imposing front doors of the museum...
Click here for the Locale Map.
An unnatural cold permeates this chamber and the tendrils of silver-gray mist flowing out the front archway into the courtyard beyond seem to effortlessly pierce the flesh and gently caress the bone in a cold embrace. The grand entranceway’s vaulted ceiling is supported by six great pillars of hewn black stone. Braziers mounted on the pillars cast white radiance from balls of continual light. The light glimmers eerily in the silvery haze that fills the atrium, giving the impression of something alien watching from the glowing fog.
As you walk among the mists that cling to floor, wall, and pillar, you feel its cloying grasp try to make it's way into not just your lungs, but also your mind!
Mist-tainted template
Any living humanoid or monstrous humanoid who fails a their Will save against the mist’s corrupting influence degenerates into an ape-like proto-creature, little more than a brutish animal.
An afflicted creature’s Intelligence and Charisma scores are both reduced to 6, and the creature gains a +2 bonus to its Strength and Dexterity scores. Additionally, the creature becomes immune to fear, gains a +10 bonus on Climb checks (and a climb speed of 20 feet), and gains a +5 bonus on Acrobatics and Stealth checks. The creature also gains a slam attack (1d4 damage for Medium creatures, 1d3 for Small creatures).
Charisma- and Intelligence-based spellcasters (such as bards and wizards) under the effects of the mist are rendered incapable of casting spells due to the ability loss (see page 17 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook). How the effects of the mist are countered remain to be seen...
You feel the insidious mist clawing at your mind, but failing to find a foothold. You're not sure what it would have done to you, but you are fairly confident that you know how to keep it at bay. How your companions will fare remains to be seen...
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Narayan walks heedless into the mist for only a moment before he drops to his knees, snarling and grunting. His muscles seem to knot and bulge as he convulses, his lipless mouth drawn open in a muffled roar.
All at once, it is over, and Narayan returns to his feet. His stance is broader and more hunched, crests of bone and keratin cover over large chunks of his body, and though he looks at the rest of his friends with recognition, it's dimmer, and nothing of the confidence and surety that guides him through life can be seen.
Is this change eternal? Has this changed even me? Can a curse really change me, or merely hide me from myself
The misst not safe. The cursse dangerousser.
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She walks behind the others and sees that it is upsetting some, but she needs to know what kind of magic this is,
As she take a deep intake of breath, then she closes her eyes, the effect came but she focused on it. There was something... then her mind locked down, She was of law as such it reposed her, she pushing it away while seeking to see what it would have done.
She holds her breath a while studying. Then lets it out again. There seems to have been no change in her at all.
"You are right, it is tainted, I would suspect demonic in nature given what we know. "
A simple Prestidigitation kept it away as she took out a cloth from her back pack and rapt it around the lower part if her face.
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"Sorry for the delay, you lot, my gatherin' took longer than expected, and I didn't come up with much fruit. I think it's best for Mister Trelawney here to remain a little more inconspicuous for now..."
He whispers to Mister Trelawney, who suddenly seems rather more like a shrub than before.
The Gardener saves his torches for now, seeing that the others are creating more than enough light. He takes the rear, readying a throwing-trowel (Kunai) in one hand and making a few practice gestures with the other.
The Gardener doubles over, having brazenly ambled in without any covering, rushing due to his absence. His breath turns hoarse as his skin toughens and his arms lengthen so that his knuckles almost reach his ankles. Salt-and-pepper hair sprouts along the exposed skin and his hat looks almost comical atop that monstrous, ape-like head. His voice is reduced to a hoarse whisper formed with a too-big tongue and too-sharp teeth, with none of the endearing goofiness of before.
"Right... that wash a bad idea. This shtrrength is... good, but not good alsho. Not feeling too bright, might not uh... pzazz so good."
"Have to rely on thingy, in-too-ishon, never sho good at. Also strong-thing and quickness, better at now I think.
He draws a second throwing-trowel, having forgotten why he kept that hand free in the first place. Even talking seems a struggle for his warped throat, though his natural chattiness seems to have been retained. He stalks to the front of the crew, shouldering rudely past his allies. The politely foolish halfling of before is reduced to rather a monster of body and mind.
Mister Trelawney looks as worried as a currently-inanimate twig can look, but his empathic desperation is merely worsening the situation. He nonetheless remains petrified, loyal even now.
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Grynt frowns. "How do you propose to remove them? The halfling and rogue we might could overcome but the Nagaji is another matter...
Don't think they need healing...they're under an evil spell. Do either of you have a means to remove it? Or is there perhaps some way to render them unconscious so we could drag 'em out?"
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"No, not I, I'm not even fully aware of its scope. I suspect demonic metamorphosis magic, fast acting and on going. My concern is this could be just the beginning of the transformation. If this effect was to afict the greater population. The results could be a catastrophe. My point is this, This city has healers. We could find one and be back in short order. I was hired to assist you, not lead you. As I said this is my recommendation only. How you act is up to you"
She states, it hard to know what her feelings are. She just seemed to br offering information.
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"But didn't we have talk of people going crazy? That would suggest an enchantment of some kind. But if this is a transformation... Oh, Razmir, no. Where did all those rampaging monkeys come from?"
Tam cautiously approaches Narayan. "You're going to be okay. Please... let's get some fresh air and help clear your mind. Okay?"