Drandle Dreng’s entrance is as understated as always at the meeting with him this morning. He carries stacks of papers and tomes, and hedding stray pages as he makes his way toward a large, cushioned chair; once seated, he greets you warmly.
“Welcome, welcome, glad to see you’ve made yourself at home. No point in beating around the bush, since I’m sure you’re all very curious why I called you here today, hm?
“As you may or may not know, the Society has been bolstering its influence with the esteemed Blakros family for some time now, and have assisted them and their famous museum with various incidents over the past few years—discovering several new levels of catacombs in the process.
“Just recently, the Blakros Museum’s curator, Nigel Aldain, informed us that he’d discovered a mysterious portal within the building’s vast catacombs, and sought information regarding how to open it. We sent one of our agents, a man by the name of Anumet Akrostera, to help research the matter further, which involved delving into the various attics and crawlspaces of the Blakros Museum in search of clues that might lead to the whereabouts of the portal’s key.
“Earlier today, Nigel showed up here, claiming that something was wrong with Anumet. It seems that the Pathfinder set off some sort of curse or trap while poking around in the place’s attics and was acting strangely, and now he can’t be found at all. I need you to head to Blakros Museum and get to the bottom of this. Find Anumet, and if he has gotten himself into irreparable trouble, you’ll also need to take up where he left off and find that key.”
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A halfing, standing tall at a full 3 feet, and wearing a mask that covers his face; unkempt brown hair flowing freely and wearing dust stained Osirion travel clothing walks in. Trailing behind him is a strange bird, with a curved beak and stunted wings. Before climbing into a chair, he turns to the dodo and says, "Waldo, be a good lad and stay close, will you?" The dodo makes a little sound, and looks almost ashamed as it takes a seat next to the halfling. The hobbit then proceeds to climb into the chair and take a seat, where he promptly realizes that he cannot actually see over the table, and thus stands, leaning on the table nonchalantly as though nothing had ever happened.
He looks around the room at the others gathered there and addresses the room. "Hello to you all! I am Kobad, a witch from Osirion! And this is my mate Waldo! A pleasure to meet you!"
When Dreng enters the room and finishes his speech, the halfinf raises his hand politely to ask a question. "Sir, in what way was Anumet acting strange? It would be a good idea to know more about what affected him, that we could better prepare ourselves."
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A tall, solidly built human enters the room. He is girded for battle, wearing banded mail and carrying a darkwood shield on his back. Hanging around his neck is the holy symbol of Iomedae, a stylized sword with a sunburst over the hilt.
"Hello Kobad, Captiain Dreng, everyone," he says nodding to each in turn with a slight smile. "I am Oswin, a humble servant of Iomedae. It's a pleasure to meet you as well."
"I echo my companion's sentiment, sir. Is there more information you can provide about Anumet or the museum itself to aid us in our preparations?"
Dreng, a nest of papers in his lap, looks at Kobad in an astonished manner, "Oh, dear I don't have that in my notes." he says without even looking at them. "Perhaps if you ask Nigel himself. He's waiting for you at the museum."
"As for the Museum, there's some interesting history to it, none of which I can remember at the moment." he says to Oswin. "Nigel is the expert, however."
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Following shortly after Oswin is a tall and strongly-built woman accompanied by a rather large, black-pelted wolf. She has more than a hint of feral wildness about her, from her long, unkempt black hair, to the nasty scars cutting across her left cheek, to the almost predatory look she gives all those in the room. Her eyes shine bright and gold and look eerily similar to that of the wolf beside her's. She takes a random seat, clunking a large Ulfen waraxe down beside her on the floor.
"I'm Sigrun. And this is Rook." Sigrun nods at her lupine companion, who is busy slinking his way over to sniff at Waldo. "No eating other people's chickens, Rook!" She chides with a frown, and the wolf obliges... although he still lurks nearby, eyeing the dodo hungrily.
"Sounds like we should start with Nigel," she mutters. She has very little else to say to Dreng, and for now simply listens to the chatter of the rest of the group.
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Kobad looks astonished and offended at the "chicken" remark, and stands up straight, hands on hips as if to object. However, the halfling behind the mask seems to realize that Sigrun is MUCH larger than he, and that her dog could eat him in one swallow. So instead he raises his hand to his mouth and coughs something unintelligible. Appearing satisfied, he returns to his nonchalant leaning position, on the far side of the chair from the wolf.
You can't be sure, of course, but you are pretty sure you heard: "It's a dodo, idiot."
Waldo, meanwhile, has an absolutely terrified look on his face as the wolf sniffs him. When Rook turns away, the dodo faints.
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"If it was a portal found in the Blackros Museum, then Anumet could have touched something from the realm of the Dark Tapestry. Rumors have it that many of the things in the museum seem tied to the otherworldly void. Who knows what he could have contacted."
A shorter, slim man rounds the doorway into the room. It's clear he was standing outside listening. He's got short sandy brown hair, cut close. Along with his alert stance, he's probably a former military soldier. He's carrying a unadorned bow, but it's clearly a powerful weapon.
"Kargen Hapspring, Hunter of Erastil." He nods to a few of you around the room.
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Another halfling enters the room, this one even smaller than the witch, wearing a tiny suit if leather armor. She nods to the others and focuses in on the speech from Dreng. As soon as the meeting was over, she ran off to confer with one of her sources, trying to find out anything about the museum.
Diplomacy
Shel then fills the others in on what little bit of information she found.
Dreng laughs at Kobad's question, then gets deadly serious immediately. "I don't think the Consortium is involved. This isn't their cup of tea. But you never know, do you?! Keep your eyes and ears peeled! What a horrible expression. I've seen eyes and ears peeled. Not a pretty sight. Now get out there and find Anumet, or at least his peeled eyes and ears." he says, waving you all away and pulling a Danish out of his pocket.
At the Museum, a very worried-looking Nigel Aldain is pacing in the foyer. "Ah! You must be the Pathfinder team Dreng sent! Good!" he says, looking slightly relieved now that help is at hand. “Thank the gods you’re finally here. It would appear something quite bizarre has happened to my new Pathfinder-turned-assistant, Anumet Akrostera, while we were researching the key to the newly discovered portal beneath the museum. I had warned Anumet that many corners of the museum hold mysteries that, as of yet, have never been looked into, but I’m afraid something got to him all the same, as the last time yesterday I saw him he was acting quite strangely, and he failed to return today. I fear something evil in the attics of the museum may have cursed him.”
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"Nigel, I am Kobad Miro, pleased to meet you." the halfling bows politely, and Waldo follows suit (as best as a dodo could possibly bow). "Sir, could you please give us more details as to the behaviour of Anumet? In what way was he acting strange? Also, do you have an item of Anumet's that Sigrun's dog could sniff?"
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Kargen stops along the way to the Museum to sell off a few items, lightening his pack considerably, though it still weighs him down.
"Nigel, I'm Kargen. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this and find Anumet. Can you show us the portal you and he have been researching? Also, does he have an office where he might have stored any notes?"
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If Sigrun overhears Kobad's mutterings, she certainly doesn't betray it. Before the group leaves, she lingers behind to bid adieu to Drandle Dreng.
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Sigrun nods politely to this Nigel fellow, but quickly decides that he's far too foppish for her tastes. (All elves were, really.) "Sigrun. Here to help."
She pauses a moment before continuing, frowning. "I'm not one for... books. But what did you find out so far about the portal?"
The ulfen warrior gives Kobad a quizzical look and an arched brow at his mention of her 'dog'. "Rook is not a dog. He is a wolf." She says the next part under her breath, although not so quietly that it would be particularly difficult to hear. "Not sure what I expected out of a man with a pet chicken, really..."
"Oh, but he can try to track this man's scent," she adds with a smirk.
Nigel nods and swallows. "Anumet was exploring the museum’s attics and towers looking for clues about the key to a newly discovered portal in the museum’s catacombs. This morning, he went up to the attic for a long time, and when he came down, he acted strangely, as if he didn’t recognize anyone. His voice was hoarse and the words he used were bizarre and archaic. He kept rambling about Ralzeros the Overwatched, but nothing he said made sense."
“He made for the catacombs and stared at the portal we’ve been trying to unlock for some time. I don’t think he realized I was still there, and I followed him around the other areas in the catacombs, where he seemed to be desperately searching for something. When he couldn’t find it, he was furious. Anumet avoided me after that, but I saw him look something up in our copy of Jackdaw’s History of the True Art, a book about famous wizards and astrologers. He took the book with him and ran out of the museum. I didn’t dare follow him, and haven’t seen him since.”
To Sigrun he says, “The portal? It was discovered a couple days ago when the museum’s workmen were clearing the basement levels out to store more of the Blakros family’s treasures. It’s a door a bit bigger than a human, and its bizarre decorations made my stomach churn just looking at them. You’re welcome to have a look for yourself if you wish.”
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Very interesting indeed. Why was he acting strangely only after returning from the attic?
"Friends, it seems odd to me that Anumet's behavior appeared altered only after visiting the attics, not directly after visiting the portal. Nigel, do I understand that point correctly? We still might be well served to take a look at the portal first. I would very much like to find Anumet, to see if the blessings of Iomedae can bring him some peace, but we don't really have any good leads there."
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"Sounds like reading that book made him snap. Maybe if we looked it up we might get a hint about where Anumet ran off to." Sigrun's face twists into a pained expression. "I don't like reading... maybe chicken man can do that better than me." Judging by the slight teasing smile that escapes through Sigrun's poker face, she's decided to continue referring to the 'chicken' simply because it gets a rise out of Kobad.
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Kobad sighs resignedly at Sigrun's comment. [b]"I vote that we head to the portal, and then to the attic. That will give us an idea of what is going on in Anumet's head. As for the book, since the dog-lady can't, I would be happy to read it (Waldo looks up at Sigrun as if to stick out his tongue). However, it sounds to me like Anumet has it in his possession. Also, I second the question as to the identity of Ralzeros."
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Sigrun seems more bemused at the sigh and retort with dog-lady than anything, although Kobad's suggestion that she can't read does miff the Ulfen warrior somewhat. "I can read, I just don't like to do so. Gives me a headache. But if Anumet took off with the book, we could try and find another copy somewhere. Like at a library."
"We can have a look at the Portal if you like. It seems to be dormant, or perhaps we just don't have the key to activate it." Nigel says, nodding. "Anumet had gone up to the attic looking for just that, actually, or any clues as to its location."
"Ralzeros? Ah, very interesting history there. This museum was once his Observatory, thousands of years ago. He built it to study the stars, though some say it was to study the Dark Tapestry. The book Anumet took, History of the True Art, discusses Ralzeros quite a bit. I think there's another copy in the Forae Logos - the biggest Library in Absalom."
Nigel leads you down into the catacombs, revealing a passageway hidden behind apparently solid stone. At the passage’s end stands a gleaming doorway, copper in color, inlaid with malachite, and covered with intricate arabesques. No obvious handle or lock is visible. Those who study the portal for more than a few minutes have the uncomfortable sensation that its decorations are slowly moving.
"Our best experts have not been able to determine where the portal might go. What seems to be clear is that it was not made by mortal hands alone, and it requires a key to activate." he explains. "It was after being on that task, while exploring the attics, that Anumet's change occurred. I don't know where exactly he went, but I wager you can follow his tracks in the dust. It's filthy up there."
Nigel shuffles his feet and waits for your investigations to be complete.
Looking relieved, Nigel leads you back upstairs to the upper exhibit halls. "While the Blakros Museum’s major structural members are shaped from solid stone, the supports used on the upper levels are made of wood. Some of these beams are so aged and fragile that the museum’s upper chambers were sealed away years ago to prevent collapse. The stairs that accessed the upper floors were removed and the exhibit halls remodeled to eliminate all sign of them." he explains as you walk. Finally he stands before a rickety that ladder currently stands in the museum’s storage room, leading up to a square hole in the ceiling’s decorative plasterwork. "Anumet used the ladder — kept so workers could access the building’s decrepit upper stories — to explore the museum’s attics." Nigel says and steps aside for you all.
Reeking of vermin droppings, sagging walkways and cramped stairwells connect the museum’s winding upper levels. Stifling heat fills the sealed-off rooms and crannies, and cracked and rotten boards pop and creak at the slightest touch. Dry-rotted debris lies heaped atop broken furniture and shattered crates in the long-disused chambers. Boot prints make an uncertain and winding trail through the thick dust on the attic’s floors. It is no great feat to follow the tracks of Anumet, and you quickly realize that it is easiest simply to follow the ones he left when leaving. Soon you find a secret door that now stands ajar, seeming to open out of an age whitened leaden frieze along one tower’s stone flank. Creaky stairs lead upwards.
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Bom looked up at from the tavern table and started swearing under his breadth,
"By the gods, I'm late!"
Bom got up, paid his tab, and quick-footed it over to Drendle Dreng's office. Getting the update...
Bom uses his wand of Longstrider and then made haste for the Blakros museum. Eventually Bom finds the group and introduces himself,
"Bom Skjold, ranger, at your service. Sorry I'm late. I had ummm...a previous engagement." Bom smiles sheepishly and takes his place among the party members. Looking up the stairs, Bom pauses for a moment to use his senses to determine if there is something foul waiting for the group.
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As the group leaves the basement and heads towards the attic, Sigrun watches Nigel out of the corner of her eye with an arched brow. Why is he so relieved to be away from the portal...?
She too will nod to Bom, although frowns a little, noticing his ethnicity... not something she liked to see down here in the south. "Sigrun," she says quietly, almost guardedly. Rook gives the ranger a thorough sniffing, but in the end apparently decides that he's no harm (if smelling a bit rank with ale and smoke from the tavern) and leaves him be.
Sigrun follows the others inside, whistling for Rook to follow her. She pays careful attention to the floorboards, wary that one might give out underneath them.
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Kargen climbs up the stairs and nearly sneezes at all the dust. He peers at the tracks left and mentally starts trying to unscramble them all. He looks up and points to the opened secret door.
"Looks like he found a secret tunnel. Whatever mad him go crazy must be in there." He begins walking up to the door, glancing back to see if the others are coming.
The tracks do indeed go along the walkway and into and out of the secret door.