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"Alright, let us deal with this threat, my friends."
Giltman starts back toward the building.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Master Mido thinks he knows what the silvery slime might be, a cyberplasm, which swarms a living creature and takes control of it like a parasite. It's also been know to animate dead creatures and fix technology.
Gerva reluctantly consents to being taken into custody by the town guard. Greatly outnumbered, she's clearly missed her chance to make a run for it.
She seems to imply the star slime infested museum worker went to the west and upstairs.
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"Knowing it is some kind of mechanical swarm, perhaps we should equip with some bottled lightning before going in" says Arbiscar.
As for exploring the down area, Arbiscar would like to try unlock the door to the East to see if Pendleton has closed himself there.
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Giltman is not sure on the wand, but after studying it a moment he believes the ball with a pin is actually a piece of technology.
Miyako observes the strange pistol and thinks it would be as simple as aiming and pulling the trigger.
The party regroups in the hall to the west of the large and entry exhibit halls. The hall features a wide stairway leading to the second floor and two lavatories for visitors. A locked door stands to west next to the stairs.
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Arbiscar brings up his Earthbreaker and he discharges it over the wooden door with all his strength.
And he swings it again over the door trying to make it down.
"We have few time and the Museum priority is to stop that thing" says the dwarf as he stairs at the half-broken door, with his large hammer at his hands.
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Arbiscar smashes enough of the door to allow entrance to the room.
Sturdy stairs here lead to the basement. Across from the stairs, new shelves store wagons, hand trucks, velvet ropes, and canvas and paints for making new banners, as well as emergency supplies.
Examining the small satchel of labeled 'For Emergency Use' you find nicely labeled items: a healer’s kit, three doses of bloodblock, two doses of antitoxin, two doses of antiplague, a potion of cure moderate wounds, and a wand of remove disease (14 charges).
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Beauregard points out the unidentified wand.
Nothing of interest in the Restoration room, so Arbiscar leads the search through the rest of the first level.
You first stop and examine the bodies of the dead Technic League members and find each has an identical an adamantine amulet. Next, you inspect the blasted remains of the crate; a trickle of harmless silvery goo drips quietly from the largest remaining piece, you discover that the crate seems to be made of metal, some ceramic material, and heavy coils of wire.
Moving on...
The large hall below the one with the Numerian relics, exhibits historical curiosities, with the western half currently dedicated to Taldan military history and the eastern half displaying Osirian mummies and grave goods. You again notice the drag marks that extend into the Numerian area begin here, where you find the lid of a small sarcophagus has been removed and dragged away.
As your search continues you easily find a storage room on the northern wall behind a colorful but otherwise mundane Taldan tapestry. It contains supplies and tools used to mend and maintain the exhibits, as well as replacement plumes for military helms.
A bit tougher to spot a secret room on the western wall that contains a shaft and crane, your best guess is the museum staff uses this hidden chamber to move large or cumbersome exhibits between the exhibit halls and the basement.
As you cross back through the Numerian area, two timid and frightened museum employees emerge from a hidden door behind one of the exhibits. They are a human male, Vencen Quil and a half-elf male, Zenel Karvoos. They tell you they are two of Aldain’s staff, and took cover in the passageway behind the exhibits once the hazard crate exploded. Both watched some of the disaster unfold through a hidden slit, but have been too afraid to venture out (even into the restoration room). But now seeing you come and go and hoping the danger has cleared they reveal themselves. They confirm that the silvery goo did indeed occupy Pendleton. They don't know where he went but say they have heard banging coming from the second floor. Other than that they offer little help and your sense motives reveal they are telling the truth.
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Arbiscar tries to identify the wand but fails miserably.
After talking with the employees the dwarf thanks them for the information and gives them farewell.
Searching does not yield anything new and hours later it becomes crystalline the time to move upstairs has arrived. "Ready yourself, this might become tough" says the dwarf as he readies his great hammer while moving upstairs.
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Miyako turns her head briefly to look at the wand. "Meh, just a stick."
She takes the amulet from a member of the Technic League and puts it in her pocket.
Miyako: You never know when's a good time to pretend you're on the other team!
Great-grandfather: Get friendly with them and stab, stab, stab!
Once the two scared employers have told their story, Miyako ushers them out of the building.
After an exploration of the basement Miyako returns to the ground floor coughing. "They should clean down there! Bleh!"
"Sooo... let's go upstairs?"
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You arrive on the second floor to a small landing that winds back to the east.
To the north is a hallway with 5 doors. Beyond that hall to the east, is a door to the north labeled 'Lecture Hall', and another door across the hall to the south is labeled 'Lavatories'.
Still further to the east beyond that, the museum opens into a larger room.
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Master Mido finds the door labeled 'Lavatories' unlocked taking a peek inside finds a large wash and rest room. It appears to be unoccupied.
Across the hall Arbiscar finds the door to the 'Lecture Hall' also unlocked. Looking inside he finds a long, narrow presentation space for visiting academics, adventurers, and pathfinders to share their knowledge. The stage at the north end is raised 2 feet higher than the seating area, but is otherwise unremarkable. It too appears unoccupied.
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"Interesting... it seems the museum wants to indoctrinate new employees, but what for?" the dwarf, who has seen places like this before, turns behind the speech desk and looks if anyone is hiding there. He searches that extreme of the room before leaving through the Western door.
Once back at the corridor he looks for any track of the creature.
If nothing is found, he just moves to the Westernmost doors and opens them.
"Where are you hiding creature of the demon!?"
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Having found noone hidden in the privy or behind lectern, and after seeing no signs of tracks in the corridor. The group moves to the hallway of doors.
They seem to be offices for the museum staff. Each has a shiny gold nameplate. From south to north they are Zenel Karvoos, Vencen Quil (the 2nd freighted staff you met earlier), Pendleton Blakros, and Nigel Aldlain (the injured curator).
None of the offices are locked and a cursory scan of each reveals all are unoccupied and not overly interesting.
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After spending a few minutes searching the offices you decide nothing of importance is there to find and you move toward the room to East.
Warm colors and skillful paintings of scenes and landscapes lend an inviting charm to this salon. A few small tables and chairs have been up-ended and scattered around the floor more to the east end of the room. Above an opening to the north is a sign reading 'Hall of Incantation'.
A strange unpleasant odor seems to reside here.
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Grandma: Ah! These paintings are not entirely accurate, but they sure are beautiful! They're somewhat romanticized depictions of historical events from around the Inner Sea, made by various artists as...
Great-grandfather: Boring!
Grandma: *sigh* Thanks dad...
"What's that weird smell?" Miyako asks her companions. "It stinks!"
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Not noticing anything other than the odor, Arbiscar moves next to the opening in the wall and peers around the corner.
If nothing dangerous is found he goes in and tries to find something of interest, perhaps even tracks of the controlled Pendleton or the slime itself.
And from there, the dwarf continues walking towards the west corridor.
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Arbiscar moves forward and looks into the Hall of Incantation, he sees displays of magical objects on pedestals and hung around the room’s perimeter, this includes spellbook pages in all manner of hands that have been carefully framed.
He then also notices more drag marks heading west.
At that moment Master Mido notices the strange plants in the crate. He recognizes them at once. Weedwhips, strange, vibrant plants which slowly but dangerously whips about its trio of tendrils with spiked heads. There tendrils are know to be poisonous.