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To attend Lore's tea party, Eadie has traded black full plate for a white skirt printed with a summery, floral pattern and a long-sleeved blouse of pastel pink.
Unfortunately, she has overdone her rouge and eye shadow, so that she looks not unlike a clown.
The warrior finds tea + brandy to be very much to her liking, to the extent that her hostess will discover Eadie has taken an impromptu, open-mouthed nap at her dining table.
Snaaaaaaarghhh *hic-dot* Snaaaaarghhh *hic-dot*
The conference room is comfortable enough to wait in: plush chairs surround a table with a pewter samovar of hot tea resting upon it.
However, Aram Zey is, unsurprisingly, late for this meeting. Finally, the door flies open and the Pathfinder Society’s Master of Spells strides through in peremptory fashion.
“Sit, if you like,” he says, coming to a halt at the head of the table but making no effort to seat himself.
“I have a job that needs doing, and it’s an important one. And since the lot of you are less likely than most to bungle the whole thing, you’ll suffice.
“Much of my time over the past year has been involved in the exploration of the demiplane inside the Hao Jin Tapestry, the artifact we acquired as a prize for winning the Ruby Phoenix Tournament. As you may know, those efforts have been severely hampered by the presence of Aspis Consortium agents inside what should be our private realm. I cannot even begin to describe the resources the Decemvirate has spent tracking this infestation to its source.
“But we’re nearly at the end, and I should be able to resume productive uses of my time. I believe all Aspis agents inside the tapestry itself have been dealt with, and we have located their means of access to the demiplane: a portal, torn into the plane from somewhere on Golarion. We ave secured the tapestry end of the portal, but that isn’t enough. A second point of access to the demiplane could be invaluable to our efforts, especially if it permits quick and easy travel from Absalom to wherever the static entrance is in Golarion—a shortcut, if you will. No, I need the other side captured, and whatever facility the Aspis Consortium maintains there secured. Go through the portal, eliminate any opposition on the other end, and secure the base for our own use. Do you think you can manage that?”
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After the tea party, to which all the party were invited, Lore attends the summons by Master Zey. She sits before he enters and at his invite, remains sitting.
"Sounds like an interesting mission... We're just the group you want for this... resourceful and strong! We'll surely get this done for the Society." She smiles at Zey happily, ready to get started... and still a little tipsy from the tea party too...
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“I have a job that needs doing, and it’s an important one. And since the lot of you are less likely than most to bungle the whole thing, you’ll suffice.”
From her seat in a plush armchair at Lore's elbow, Eadie wakes with a start at the sound of her least favourite Venture-Captain's voice.
"I beg your pardon, Master of Spells. I take offence at that!"
Still dressed in her party clothes, the Fighter/Rouge is outraged! "I'm just as likely to bungle the job as anyone else!"
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A brown skinned, bright-green haired female gnome floats into the room atop a mess of extra planar vines as if she owns the place (an effect not unfamiliar in a room dedicated to Zey.) She puts her hands on her hips, which happen to be adorned with armor leathers and druidic robes. She merely carries a pouch of spell bits intermingled with coin, as well as a beating stick and gnarled root adorned with a mistletoe on the end. The only fancy-looking gear she wears are a matching headband and belt set, which are inlaid with gold on the respective fronts with the word "QUEEN."
Turf answers the question first before looking at company gathered and complaining. "Yeah. Ugh, more goon management? At least there isn't anyone that smells like pork gone bad."
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A short grippli wades into the room, his skin dark mottled green and his legs splayed apart. Each steps sends a jingling noise through the room as the frog's spurs rattle and the grippli keeps his hands hitched into his belt, which is accented by a large silvery belt buckle in the front. A musket is slung across his back and as he looks about he takes the large stetson hat from his head and bows his head at Eadie and Lore. "Ma'am, Ma'am. Pleasure to make your acquaintances." He then puts his hat back on and addresses the whole room. "Th'name's Chochok, a wanderin' fella just here to do my part right by the Society. Aspis in the Tapestry, y'say? Well, ain't that just a wet hen. Yeah, I reckon we can take care of some Aspis and secure this shortcut."
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A tall elf with long white hair and alabaster skin comes into the room. He carries a longbow slung across a shoulder, and a curve blade across the other shoulder. Numerous pouches, satchels, and a spellbook hang from his belt. He nods to all present. "I think, from the looks of the group, that we should prove successful." With a stiff bow, he says. "I am Caradeum."
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(Earlier, at the tea party...)
"...in the end we were victorious over the treacherous and evil Jester! I suppose one could say the joke was on him! Hah!" Maximo finishes his story with a toast of brandy to his unconscious audience, the "Beautiful Lady Eadie." It was a title he bestowed upon first laying eyes on her, and there seemed to be no jest in his own appraisal of her appearance and wardrobe. In fact, he was immediately smitten by her classic style. Ever the gentleman he offers other compliments to Lore and any other lady attending the party, finding beauty in all, and amazingly all his compliments seem genuine and without ulterior motive.
The older gentleman arrived dressed in fine mithril armor and a military uniform of Taldor style, though it bore no emblem or rank and was outdated and quite out of fashion. His manner is friendly, and though obviously noble, he seems to hold himself no higher than any other. When he speaks, it is with an accent affected by the nobility of Taldor, but long since fallen out of favor.
By his own appearance one might have thought Maximo arrived straight from a drunken party begun a decade or two ago, but as he matched others drink for drink, and had perhaps a few more, the older gentleman displayed no signs of real inebriation.
***
(Later, at the meeting with Aram Zey...)
Maximo is unperturbed by the Master of Spell's backhand compliments. "Bungled or not, have no fear that we shall do our best." He says with a confidant smile that displays perfect gleaming white teeth.
To those at the meeting that were absent from the tea party, he introduces himself with a sweeping theatrical bow. "Well met, my new friends. Baron Maximo Interresante, at your service."
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(Before her nap at the tea party ...)
Eadie laughs like a drain at Maximo's jest. "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ..." I don't get it.
"You know, Max ... Can I call you Max? I was once promised a fair dinkum knighthood for doing a favor for royalty. I was so looking forward to being Lady Eadie ... *sigh*
"Lore tried to tell me he wasn't a real prince, but I wouldn't listen. Turned out big sis new best."
(After her nap at Aram Zey's briefing ...)
Eadie leans closer to her sister and whispers to her as she gestures with her head at Turg. "Lore, is that gnome a boy or a girl?"
And what is that QUEEN sign all about?"
The after-hours warrior ponders for a moment before blurting out "Oh I get it! You're a Drag Queen!"
€€€€
Eadie stands and curtsies in reply to Chochok's greeting. "Good evening, Your Highness. So are you a real prince, Chochok?"
Aram Zey ignores the sleeping 'red' swordswoman and addresses the gnomess and grippli.
“What we’ve determined, from postmortem interrogation and documents found, is that it should not be a large group; most of their agents were inside the tapestry. We do know they’re led by an agent named Lyone Ekarian. Apparently he’s a wizard who thinks the best use for his magic is upclose fighting, so clearly he’s an idiot.
Turning to Caradeum.
“And being 'successful' implies all Aspis Consortium agents must be neutralized. Additionally, any other hostiles must likewise be neutralized. I don’t want any of my researchers being eaten by something because you rushed the job.”
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Realising VC Zey is unlikely to let her get any more sleep before sending them on their way, Eadie shakes herself awake like a wet dog and asks:
"So you're not expecting us to encounter much opposition along the path itself? The Aspis are likely to be ensconced in their portal stronghold, yeah? OK, is there any intelligence on what the fortress is like, how it came to be there and what it houses besides Snakes, Master of Spells?"
He pauses to ponder Caradeum's question.
“It has proven irritatingly resistant to divination, though interrogation of Aspis agents encountered in the tapestry has revealed that the portal likely leads to somewhere in Varisia. We don’t know where, exactly; we can tell it’s a non-hazardous environment, though. You won’t be stepping into a volcano’s caldera or off the side of a cliff.”
He looks at each of you, wondering if he made the right choice.
"Well, do any of the remainder of you have any questions or are you ready to prove yourselves on this mission? Have any of you been into the Tapestry before? Or must I explain how it works too?"
He sighs.
"Oh, very well then."
Pointing to the tapestry, he adds.
“You’ll travel through the Hao Jin Tapestry. The user determines where he appears within, so we’ll make sure you access the correct spot—just adjacent to the end of the backdoor we control. To reach our Pathfinder-controlled portal, you simply need to touch the designated spot on the Tapestry—as we are safely secured in this vault beneath the Grand Lodge in Absalom. I will provide you the command word to speak whence you touch the Tapestry.”
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Eadie looks down at her wrinkled clothes. "Prestidigitation maybe, Caradeum?"
The warrior races off to the nearest cloak room, chasing out any male attendant with a glare, before changing into her work clothes.
She returns shortly after clad in black full plate, with a heart shaped key embossed over her left breast. Her belt bears a brass buckle adorned with the grim face of Abadar's herald - the construct-like outsider called the Lawbringer.
A feathered, golden tiara adorns her helm. While her grubby tasset and broad cape also share the favoured color of the Judge of the gods. A worn falchion is crossed with a pole arm on her back, while another heavy blade of dull grey star metal is sheathed at her left hip.
Aram Zey waits patiently (ok, he waits) tapping his fingers on his crossed arms.
"When you are all assembled, I will give you the command word to enter."
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"Have any of you been into the Tapestry before? Or must I explain how it works too?""
Looking the wrong way, Maximo fails to notice the Master of Spells pointing to the tapestry.
"Of course my good man! I traveled through Shin Jao on multiple occasions. My manservant was born there, or so He told me. He had a strange relationship with the truth. And the common tongue." To Lore and Chochok he continues in an aside, delivered as though on stage. "It is a lovely place, with a way house owned by the most loveliest of ladies."
When Turg points out the tapestry again, he opens his mouth as if to laugh at a jest, then frowns and gives an embarrassed cough.
"are there any scrolls you would like me to purchase?"
"Hmmm.." Maximo ponders a moment. "Do you think you could get your hands on a copy of The Bell of Swift Chapel? I have had trouble collecting a complete version of the song. They say the ending has a twist."
Having arrived nearly ready, Maximo adjusts the greatsword buckled to his back, checks a few small flasks at his belt, then plucks a strange eastern helm from his pack and plops it on his head at a jaunty angle.
"Let us proceed, posthaste!"
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“Yeah and quickly too!”
Eadie whispers to Lore “Can you understand what Maximo is saying? Maybe he should cut back on the …” She upends a cupped hand above her open mouth while making a *GLUG-GLUG* sound.
The warrior is still sceptical of the Society’s magical conveyance. “Lore, can quilts really take you places? You know … to see new things and meet new people?”
“Chochok … Turg … has this got anything to do with the ‘Dark Tapestry’ that Amenopheus is always warning me about?”
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"Shhsshshh, you. No talking, you don't know things." Turg notes hastily, still remaining ignorant of the mis-naming comment.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"No, he doesn't and won't. Snave is worthless as anything but a carrying slave. Now, I still have all of the Emerald Spire's money... Maybe I should buy something with it..."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Well, if we're going into one tapestry, I'd suppose that would mean that there's cloth monsters everywhere." Turg states matter-of-factly.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Quilts are a whole different animal from tapestries, Eadie... it's the layers that do it... magical quilts are amazing... I've heard of one that can make you immortal even... anyway, I'm not so learned about tapestries as I am about quilts... but they are made differently and do different things."
"I LOVE the walking vines... as long as they're not assassin vines, of course, those scare me. They'd be SO pretty in the spring and summer, all covered with pretty flowers... I could make us some flower circlets for our hair, we'd be the beautifullest of all!"
Lore hops off her chair... "Well if we're going to do this... we should get started... shopping first, then tapestry?"
You speak the command word provided while touching the tapestry at the location indicated by the wizard.
Your head swirls for a moment as you suddenly appear elsewhere.
The smell of dust and an underlying sweetness pervades this dim room. A thick indigo carpet coveres the floor, stiff and crackling with age. The room is lined with low cushions and
settees facing the chamber’s center. Here and there among this seating corroded hookahs lie overturned. A set of narrow windows in the southern wall let in a faint breath of fresh air.
The walls are bare of coverings, but not of decoration; a band of tiles twice the width of a human hand snakes around the room, about five feet off the ground save where it winds over doorframes. The tiles form a mosaic of runes, variations on a pattern with one particular rune repeating over and over.
The northern wall is the only place where this mosaic is interrupted; here the wall itself is pierced by a six-foot-wide circular gap, filled with a translucent sienna haze. Around this portal a circle of runes is painted, similar to the one repeated throughout the mosaic.
They pulse with the same light that fills the portal itself.
The portal and the space immediately beyond it are sealed off by a set of iron bars and a cell door; a pull-rope and bell are suspended within this crude cell.
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“Do the runes mean anything to anyone?”
Eadie takes a look around the room for items of interest and any traps on the bell pull, but she doesn’t touch the mechanism. She takes special note of the cinnamon haze but doesn’t touch or breathe it in.
“The room we’re in clearly used to be quite plush. But is that because it was for valuable prisoners OR was it a waiting room for important visitors?”
“I guess the first step is to get through the portal. Any ideas on how to do that safely?”
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"Magic? Pick the locks? Either way, I'm guessing pulling that string would be a bad idea. I reckon this is a holding area to make sure anyone coming through here is supposed to be here and if Aspis are about, we're not supposed to be here, in their eyes." Chochok takes out his musket just in case someone shows up. "So, anyone got magic to get us out or good with pickin' locks?"
Eadie does not spot anything beyond what is described. The room, portal and runes radiate magic as well as the room beyond the bars. The bars themselves do not seem to be magical but the door is.
The bell and rope are on your side of the bars.
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Eadie casts an uneasy look over her shoulder at Turg, before clapping the elvdritch knight on the shoulder. “I’ll stand with you if you want to try the door, Caradeum.”
“Otherwise I’m sure Turg will have an … *GULP* imaginative way of getting us out of here.”
The steel-shod soldier follows Chochok’s lead by drawing her enchanted blade.
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Turg dismisses Snave with a wave before going into the tapestry and doesn't quite bother yet to resummon him.
@Creativity: "Yeah, I could summon some of the Vex guys to take the lock down. That's kinda their thing."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Lore looks around at the runes and shrugs , then at the bellpull. "Maybe we should just pull the thing, summon whoever is supposed to come, and deal with them?" Having said that, she makes no move to the bellpull though.
"This looks like a smoking room.. I wonder what they were smoking though, it doesn't smell like tobacco in here."
Studying the door, you find it to be locked. Let me know if anyone actually wants to try to open the door or pull the bell cord or have a smoke. :-)
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Frowning Caradeum shakes his head. "There is weak abjuration magic on the door and in the next room, but I can't get a read on it. If I had to guess, I'd suspect some.sort of alarm spell. Shall I unlock the door and we risk it, and should we try to dispel it?"
"Unfortunately, I didn't prepare a dispelling spell and neglected to pick up a scroll of that spell." He adds as an afterthought.