After a brief respite from your last adventure, you find yourselves back in the Greenforest Inn of Thornkeep, summoned by a terse, and perhaps a bit imp magical message delivered by Master of Spells Aram Zey. He and Venture Captain Ambrus Valsin await you in a private room of the inn. The Master of Spells sits at the head of the table studying a weathered tome, ignoring those that enter. Ambrus stands nearby with a mug resting comfortably in hand.
"Welcome, Pathfinder." Ambrus nods as you enter. "Make yourself at home." He gestures to a tray of food and drink on the table.
|
A squatty old-looking fellow, slightly hunched and gruff-looking, wearing simple cotton clothes and a straw hat, kicks around at a pig at his feet. Only the fact that the pig wears wooden armor indicates that this might not be someone's dinner.
"Name's Barlor. Can the pig have some treats?" he asks bluntly.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Barlor's request actually foils Aram Zey's concentration on the tome, and he gives Barlor a flat stare that says "No", but Ambrus chuckles and answers while the Master of Spells is still grinding his teeth.
"It can. Just don't let it eat right from the platter."
Aram Zey lets out a long breath through his nose and turns his glare back upon his book.
|
|
Maddie glides into the room, thoroughly enshrouded in her cloak, wearing fresh, unburnt clothing underneath.
She smiles as she recognizes the others in the room, “Ayaki, Barlor. Pleasure to be working with you both again.” She then gives a respectful nod to both the Venture Captain and Master of Spells, "Sirs."
As she waits, she attempts to ascertain what Aram Zey is reading.
|
László enters on Maddie's heels, a new cloak the only obvious change to his wardrobe. "Ah, my friends. It is good to see you all again. Hello, Ing. Let me see; I may have a little something for you. No paper with it this time." The Varisian produces a piece of sweetened dried fruit from a belt pouch and holds it out for the boar. He looks around at Maddie and Ayaki with a smile. "Some time ago, Ing helped me get rid of a very important piece of paper, so I always try to have a little something for him."
There is a sharp slap as Aram Zey shuts the tome he was perusing. Standing, he looks to Ambrus. "Now that everyone has arrived, I suppose I should reveal my discoveries?"
Ambrus gestures as if giving the floor to an entertainer. Zey narrows his eyes, apparently not entertained by his fellow Venture-Captain. "Very well." Turning to the group he begins.
"When the mad wizard Nhur Athemon wasn’t tinkering with his subjects on Golarion, he found his way to even stranger worlds, be they other planets, other planes, or even other dimensions. The myriad relics and strange mementos he returned with held great power, and in his hands they proved potent tools that he used to further explore the universe as well as solidify his earthly domain. The dread magician even managed to capture creatures from the impossibly distant locales he visited thanks in part to his stolen technology. His most prized findings inevitably found their way into his personal collection, a museum-like complex cryptically referred to in Krenar's journal as the Enigma Vaults. Apparently, he wasn't brave, or foolhardy, enough to venture down himself, though he did hire some tomb-robbers from Daggermark that were. These thieves were led by a woman named Iklavni Korlesh, and according to Krenar's notes she nor her men ever returned."
Zey looks to Ambrus, who grins at the group. "My contacts, however, tell me that Iklavni has been seen occasionally around the town, buying supplies. That leads me to believe that she might have found another way in and out of the Vaults. If you find her below, try to get that information from her if possible."
Aram Zey gives Pai a withering look. "I assumed they were all here." He says through clenched teeth to Ambrus, who smiles as though he just won a hand a cards.
"Well you know what they say about those who assume things." Ambrus replies, then quickly addresses the group before Zey can retort. "Unless there are more questions, you know where to go. Good luck, Pathfinders."
Once again, you delve into the ruins beneath Thornkeep, retracing your steps through the Accursed Halls and the Forgotten Laboratory. Using Krenar's key, you unlock the marked door found on your previous expedition and descend a spiraling set of stairs. At the bottom, a ten-foot-wide hallway curves north, where another flight of stairs takes you to a corridor leading to a octagonal central chamber. Iron bars separate this room from the eastern and southern hallways, and the floor of the chamber is painted with what appears to be a night sky filled with stars. A quick search and scan for magical auras reveals none in the area.
The northern section of the hall surrounding the central chamber features a single shelf that runs along the north and west walls. Dozens of ancient books sit on these shelves, but time has caused the words to fade from their pages, and any attempt to handle the tomes causes them to crumble to dust. Simply scanning the spines reveals many intriguing titles written in Azlanti, such as Dreams in Liavara’s Womb, Whispers from the Red Star, and A Myriad Mirrored.
The stars painted on the central floor constitute a map of the night sky—a star chart that places Golarion’s solar system at the center and dozens of other smaller stars in the outlying reaches.
A phrase is carved in Azlanti over the western doors:
Ayaki senses no danger from the door or beyond it. Ing snorts, the swine equivalent of a shrug. Opening the door, you look into a thirty-foot-diameter room that seems something like a silo—the domed ceiling rises twenty feet above, and the floor drops away into darkness below. A ten-foot-wide stone bridge with no railings crosses the shaft to a hall and door in the opposite side, yet a onefoot-wide gap separates the bridge from either hall. Below, two additional archways lie in the north and south walls of the shaft, thirty feet below the level of the upper entrances.
Barlor is able to describe the folowing - the ground below is hard and littered with numerous rotted and skeletal goblin bodies. The bridge in the middle of the room is supported by a single 10-foot-wide pillar that extends down from its center to the floor below.
As Ayaki steps to the bridge a being materializes at the center. It appears as a vaguely humanoid monster with the deformed head of a fanged bird and two coiling serpents for legs. Looking at Ayaki, it speaks in a language no one comprehends, then seems to be waiting for something.
The creature suddenly flickers, revealing it as some kind of image, though how dangerous it might be is unknown to most of the group.
|
|
"Oh, I think I recognize this. It's some type of representation of Abraxas, the demonic patron of the man who built this. Clearly it's not the real thing." Maddie explains calmly, then suggests, "Try to get it to speak again, I might be able to understand it with magic."
Maddie casts Comprehend Languages and tries to pantomine to the image her request that it repeat itself.
The image speaks again, this time in a language that sounds elven.
|
"Riddles are so boring..." Turg's mind wanders while the group solves the problem at hand. "I seriously hope something makes following these guys from the inn worthwhile..."
-Posted with Wayfinder
The image looks upon Maddie and speaks again in elvish.
The image repeats its message to Barlor.
The image repeats its message to Ayaki.