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“There’s trouble at the Blakros Museum again,” Venture- Captain Adril Hestram growled when you first entered the meeting room in the Grand Lodge earlier this afternoon. “The museum’s curator, Nigel Aldain, came to me this morning asking for help. Apparently, a wayward daughter of his illustrious patrons, the powerful Blakros family, has disappeared, along with a few of the museum’s watchmen who went looking for her. The Society has helped him in the past, and he wants us to find her, before he loses his job, or worse. Now Nigel’s an old friend, and a former Pathfinder, but this kind of missing person case isn’t really our bailiwick. Normally I’d tell him to find the district guard and leave the Society out of it.
“But then he made me an offer that was too good to pass up. Not only will he allow the Society access to the Blakros Museum’s extensive and very private library, but apparently this same missing daughter just returned to Absalom with a pack full of ancient relics collected throughout Osirion and northern Garund. And Nigel promised the Society first pick of any of those pieces that catch our fancy. I don’t need to tell you what those kinds of things might be worth, so it looks like you’re heading to the Blakros Museum tonight.
“The missing daughter is named Imrizade Blakros—half- Osirian herself and a pretty successful adventurer and fortunehunter by all accounts. She just arrived in Absalom out of the blue a few days ago, after a couple of years’ worth of tomb-raiding in the Osirian deserts, and carrying an odd metal cylinder covered in hieroglyphs, like nothing Nigel has ever seen before. Nigel says she went straight to the basement of the museum to do some research in the family’s library, muttering something about ‘whispers in the dark’ and ‘old tapestries,’ or something. He didn’t hear from her for a couple of days, which isn’t unusual when someone is deep into their research in the archives, but he got worried when strange noises started coming from the basement. He sent a watchman down there to investigate, and when he didn’t return, Nigel sent a few more. That was last night, and they haven’t come back up either.
“Go to the museum and find out what happened to Imrizade Blakros and the watchmen. Nigel would prefer them alive, of course, especially the Blakros woman, but the Society is more interested in what she brought back with her. I’ve got a hunch it wasn’t just grave goods and pretty jewelry. Whatever she found, the Society wants it, or at the very least some information about it.”
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"Hmm... interesting. I'm fluent in Osirian, though not ancient Osirian yet. But I know I would definitely like to look at what she brought back. I wonder though, if she might have brought back something cursed. We'll just have to see."
He looks at the others in the group, "You may call me Dark. I know, a cliché name, but that is what my parents gave me." He shrugs.
Dark is wearing a fancy looking leather armor, has a long sword strapped to his side, but also has a book hanging from a special holster from his belt.
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Kenza Bloodborn stands tall and stoic at the back of the room. She's a solidly built half-orc woman with pale green skin tattooed with ancient osiriani sigils. She wears her long black hair tied back, and has rather large teeth protruding from her mouth. Her clothes are clearly made for a hotter climate, light fabrics worn loose and flowing. She wears no armour, and bears only a pair of daggers and a simple sling as weapons. A few vials bulge from her belt pouch and a backpack rests at the ground at her feet.
Kenza eyes the other Pathfinders present, trying to determine which ones will need her protection and which will fare better on their own. That's her job, after all, what she was deemed worthy of--protecting smarter and more useful Pathfinders than herself.
She listens to Venture-Captain Hestram with great seriousness, hanging on his every word. At the end of his mission briefing she immediately replies, "Yes, sir!"
After hearing Dark mention ancient Osiriani, Kenza perks up in surprise. "I speak both ancient and modern Osiriani," she assures him. Perhaps I will be of more use than expected.
She nods at Dark and shakes his hand firmly. "I am Kenza Bloodborn. I am honoured to make your acquaintance." She bows her head in respect, clearly considering Dark superior to her in some way.
"You are a scholar?" she asks Dark, noting the book strapped onto his hip.
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So far you are only able to piece together the following information:
The wealthy and prominent Blakros family is a large, extended clan of eccentrics with trade contacts rivaling those of the Aspis Consortium who make most of their money selling valuable antiquities across the Taldor- Qadira border. Their daughters are known far and wide for their beauty, and marrying a Blakros woman is a sure path to power and riches.
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"Well don't be looking at me to translate a bloody thing, I am as fluent in Osiriani as Lucy here" Grey reaches down and ruffles the head of the very scared boar standing next to him, which in return earns him a derisive snort. "Ha! Don't bloody be pretending you know the first thing about knowing anythin' about Osiriani."
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Just how big is this Museum to have multiple guardsmen available to be lost in the basement... Wonder what she has been eating/drinking to have been missing for a couple days?
When people turn to see who was speaking they would see a huge scarred half-orc in a suit of scale mail and multiple weapons the most prominent being the two handed flail on his back.
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Kenza nods at Dark before moving on, offering a handshake and a bow to each of her companions in turn, first the man with the pig, then the scarred half-orc, then the woman with the scorpion in her hair.
I am Kenza Bloodborn. I am honoured to make your acquaintance." she tells each of them respectfully.
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Neerduwyl recalls the following:
In the early days of Absalom, the Blakros Museum was originally the stronghold of an eccentric wizard. Abandoned for centuries, it was later bought by the Blakros family, who turned it into a museum for their impressive collection of curiosities from across Golarion.
The mad astrologer Ralzeros the Overwatched built what is now the Blakros Museum thousands of years ago, as an observatory to study distant worlds (and some say, to be studied by them). He later disappeared following a mage-duel with another of Absalom’s early wizards.
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The Blakros Museum is a private museum located in Absalom’s Wise Quarter. Owned by the far-reaching and influential Blakros family, it houses and displays an assortment of antiques and oddities the family has collected over the years. The museum’s basement primarily consists of storage rooms containing those pieces of the Blakros family’s vast collection that are not on display in the museum above. The basement also holds the family’s private archives, an impressive compilation of scrolls, manuscripts, and correspondence, as well as a scriptorium where texts can be copied.
A 50-foot-long stone ramp concealed beneath the miniature ziggurat in the museum’s North Exhibit Hall descends 25 feet to the basement. Wide enough to accommodate a draft horse moving large exhibits to and from the basement storerooms, the ramp ends at two sets of double doors, facing each other to the east (down) and west (up). Wooden placards on the doors are marked “Storeroom 1” and “Storeroom 2.”
The basement’s walls are hewn stone, carved from basalt, and mirror the gothic architecture found in the rest of the museum, though of a simpler design. Unless otherwise noted, the basement’s ceilings are 15 feet high and all doors are strong wood and unlocked. The basement is unlit unless otherwise noted, so the party will need to bring their own light sources with them.
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Kenza bows to the pig who apparently has wonderful taste in women. "Greetings, Lucy. I am Kenza Bloodborn. It is an honour to meet you, as well."
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Kenza follows her fellows into the museum, through the atrium, and down the ramp hidden under the ziggurat.
Upon arriving in the basement, Kenza looks around warily, and moves to the front of the group, ready to protect them from danger at a moment's notice. She leans against the doors one at a time, listening for any sounds...
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Dark pulls a sunrod out from his pack, activating it before he ties a string around it and hangs it like a necklace around his neck. "This should do for some light."
Letting the more martial types take the lead, he stays toward the rear. "We might as well go in order. So I say Storeroom 1. And I must warn you, I like to explore every nook and cranny. You never know what you might miss if you don't."
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Pinch does not sense anything living in the room.
Opening the door after sensing the all clear:
The doors open with a grinding creak, revealing a large room filled with monsters of all shapes and sizes. Giant skeletons and stuffed taxidermic monstrosities are frozen in poses of snarling ferocity, while mummified corpses lie in sedate repose in ornately carved sarcophagi. As silent as a tomb, the air in the hall is stale and musty.
Two large wooden signs lean against one wall, inscribed with the captions “Hunting the Beasts of Legend” and “The Honored Dead.” Unlit oil lamps hang from brackets in the center of each wall. A door in the southern (left) wall holds a sign labeled “Storeroom 3.”
Dark Schnyder and Graktul realize that although nothing is living the Owlbear in the far corner is animated by some dark energy.
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Yu cautiously makes his way forward very cautious like, especially after seeing Kenza fall that quickly. So, thinking fast (that is what he does after all!) he composes some insults to throw at the creature.
Action: Satire. The creature suffers -1 to hit and damage rolls. (opposite of Inspire Courage).
"Hey, you, ugly thing!" Yu yells at the creature. "You empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"
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Grey and the boar rip into the stuffed animation. Doing more damage to the pelt then the structure underneath. But still breaking some more of the bones.
It is beginning to list to the side, but still stands.
Needuwyl stabilizes Kenza and can see that the creature has short arms and can only reach 5 feet.
Yu notices that the undead is not affect by his satire since it has no mind to notice.
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Kenza's eyes fly open and she flails around, fighting off her attackers--which turns out to be Grey, her saviour.
"Sorry!" she exclaims with worry.
Kenza quickly hurries to her feet and looks around. Seeing the owlbear is vanquished she looks solemn.
She bows to the group in shame. "I apologize for being a burden."
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By the time Dark enters the room, the combat is over. He sighs and shakes his head. "I understand you are probably use to charging foes like that Kenza. But I recommend next time wait until you can get some backup to join you. You were too close to death there. I would hate to see that. Especially, since I suspect I will need your brawn to protect me later on in our mission. Oh, and protect the others too."
"While Kenza rest some to get her strength back. The rest of us should search the room. And I recommend we head to Storage Room 2 afterwards instead of jumping to 3."
After checking up on Kenza, he begins to search the room.