“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 fortune-hunter 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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A weathered dwarf, twigs and leaves tangled into his hair and beard, clothes dusty and travel=stained, carries a massive hammer over one shoulder and nods at the VC's words.
I'm not much well-liked in museums, too many breakables. But finding missing people, yeah, that's something I can help with. Just say the word and we're ready to depart.
Before you can determine who constitutes "we", he puts a hand to his mouth and whistles, prompting a strange reptilian creature to stalk into the room.
Hunched forward like some thief in the night, the "pet" snaps its large crocodilian snout. The dwarf laughs and rubs his hand affectionately along the creature's spiny dorsal fin.
You hungry, Gertie? I am too.
Piety and Alistair, please report to the Discussion tab to give me some basic info that will help me GM! Much appreciated!
Eleanor has not checked in yet, so I will be sending her a message.
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A muscular nagajit stand in silance to the words that are spoken
"Yesss we will find what hasss happened to the girls and the artifactsss. " Hassshin's tongue darts out ands taste the air as the small lesser reptile enters the room. Smiling in the way only a snake can he looks at is and appreciates how the dwarf treats it
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"I need to buy a book.. Just one book.. before we go in.. a museum is likely to have a great many samples? Is any of the place interactive? I like squishy stuff! Oh a packing list! Acid flasks, check. Alkali flasks, check. Alchemist's fire, check, Anti-Toxin, check. Anti-Plague, check. . . Looks like I am out of liquid ice and holy water, but I have a tanglefoot bag. Someday I will learn to make tangle burn bags, but that really isn't the point at the moment. ."
"Oh! A menu! I can make these if anyone needs them!" Eponine hands a card to Hasshin.
Eponines Enchanted Elixirs:
1) Eponine's Enlightenment - This doesn't make you any brighter, it just makes other things lighter.
2) Eponine's Enlargerment Enhancement - This delightful brew will make you twice the man (or woman) you used to be!
3) Eponine's Curative Cocktail - Entropy isn't what it used to be, let the balm turn back the hands of time to a place you were once whole.
4) Eponine's Mighty Minisculery - This delightful draught will let you experience life as a gnome!
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The slender, bespectacled human hardly looks up as the venture captain gives his briefing. Instead, his eyes dart back and forth between a large tome and a piece of paper, as he appears to be simultaneously reading the former while taking notes on the latter.
Mumbling to himself about the museum and what relics it might hold, he suddenly acknowledges the presence of other pathfinders in the room when the dwarf speaks.
"Yes, yes, find the girl and the relics. Of course. No problem, sir."
"Magrim, I didn't realize you would be joining us on this excursion. I had heard you were being dispatched to Jalmeray on a hunting expedition. I trust your presence here means it went well?"
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A young, feisty halfling lass with spiky purple hair and violet colored eyes strolls into the room. "Am I late? I was busy examining the Queen's jewels for her - ya know, just to make sure they sparkled appropriately and all."
She listens to the job at hand, and says "Find a girl? Lost in her thoughts, be my guess. But exploring a creepy basement sounds fun enough."
She sees Eponine and all her stuff and jumps up to her. "Whatcha got there? What is all that stuff? It looks pretty fun. You one of those chemysts? I want to be a chemyst. Scritch and I keep arguing over it, but I think I am going to do it. Where did you learn? Where is Scritch, anyway?" She starts looking under furniture and behind things.
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The slender, bespectacled human hardly looks up as the venture captain gives his briefing. Instead, his eyes dart back and forth between a large tome and a piece of paper, as he appears to be simultaneously reading the former while taking notes on the latter.
Mumbling to himself about the museum and what relics it might hold, he suddenly acknowledges the presence of other pathfinders in the room when the dwarf speaks.
"Yes, yes, find the girl and the relics. Of course. No problem, sir."
"Magrim, I didn't realize you would be joining us on this excursion. I had heard you were being dispatched to Jalmeray on a hunting expedition. I trust your presence here means it went well?"
Magrim hugs the Chelaxian, giving him a good whiff of stale sweat.
Yep, just recently returned. Those nobles got what they wanted, we found some ruins sacred to a Vudran Monkey God, and nobody got killed. I figured it was a success, but now the VC is sending me to a museum, so maybe things weren't as smooth as I thought.
As the dwarf speaks to the scholar, his pet dinosaur crouches down and starts rooting around under the furniture with Leepo, searching for this "Scritch".
Gertie, heel! Miss, I don't think you want Gertie's help finding whatever it is you're looking for.
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Hasshin looks to all gathered here "a pleasssure to make your acquaintancesss I am Hasshin Sshok new to the guild. I hope we can all travel well together on thisss asssignment." his tongue darting out at the end of his words as is to taste the air around them
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"Gertie? She's cute! What kind of dog is she? Here, Gertie! I'll call Scritch so you can play."
For the next minute, she does a strange little dance and chant...
Scritch, Scritch, come and play
We can have some fun like yesterday
I got some new friends for you to meet
and Gertie, the doggie, is kinda neat!
Eventually, a blue smoke starts to appear, swirling around like a mini-tornado, and then puffs out, leaving an odd looking small blue creature with arms and a serpentine body, big eyes, a very large mouth with sharp pointy teeth, and big fuzzy ears.
"Leepo!" it squeaks, as it gives her a hug.
Knowledge (history):
Knowledge (local) or Diplomacy (gather information):
Once you are finished with Adril Hestram, you proceed to the Blakros Museum where you are greeted by a clearly flustered Nigel Aldain, the curator of the museum.
He ushers you straight away to the North Exhibit Hall and opens a secret door in the ziggurat there to reveal a ramp down into the library below. He’ll answer any questions that he can, but he has no idea what’s going on beneath his museum—only what Adril Hestram revealed to you earlier.
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.
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.
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 and west. Wooden placards on the doors are marked “Storeroom 1” and “Storeroom 2.”
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The Chelish wizard reflexively flinches at the dwarfs gesture of friendship, before relaxing a bit and offering an awkward embrace in return. Patting his friends Dino with a smile, Alistair looks at the myriad companions and says simply, "This should be interesting"
Later, at the museum...
Alistair pulls a way finder from his pocket, activating its Light and illuminating the darkness
Holding his light up while he examines the collection of scrolls and books, the wizard goes into "lecture mode", casually talking to everyone (and no one) while he details all the info in the knowledge local spoiler. (Not sure if that is sufficient or if you all want me to actually type it verbatim lol)
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"I love the Blakros museum! It is always so interesting, and sometimes a little creepy. Have you ever heard of Ralzeros? He was this crazy astrologer - they called him "the Overwatched", but I don't know why. Anyway, he built this place before the Blakros girls... er, family... bought it. I always wonder if they found some secret stash of magic or portals in here - old Ralz liked to study other worlds!"
Scritch voices a small growl at that last part and asks "Still here?"
"No silly. He is long gone - lost a duel to some other uppity wizard, I think. This was all hundreds of years ago - WAY before my time!"
Leepo looks at all the cool exhibits. "Glad they turned it into a museum, though."
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Magrim takes a moment to gather his focus and speaks to Lagertha softly . The dinosaur grows strange ear-like membranes along the sides of her reptilian head. .
Me an Gertie will check out the doors first, then you lot can come behind us with the light source. Good? Good.
The dwarf tosses his wayfinder to Leepo, then says "stay close, keep me safe" to his pet.
Clack, Clack, Clack! the sound of claws scrabbling on the floor echoes in the museum as Lagertha keeps time with Magrim.
The door to Storage Room #1 looks perfectly safe, so does the door to Storage Room #2.
The doors open onto a vast hall draped in shadowy cobwebs and filled with haphazardly placed statues. The air is heavy with dust. Any noise echoes hollowly among the figures, some swathed in thick coverings like misshapen
beasts, others bare and uncovered, all coated in a thick layer of dust. Leering visages loom out of the darkness, fearsome wooden and stone faces carved in grimaces and scowls.
This room has a 20-foot-high ceiling and holds a dazzling collection of sculptures, effigies, and statues of different sizes, some draped in sheets, others coated with a thick layer of dust. Unlit oil lamps hang from brackets in the center of each wall. A wooden sign on a door in the southern wall reads “Scriptorium—Quiet Please.”
There are plenty of tracks moving around the room. The most recent statues and sculptures (aka the ones with the least dust) have some light tracks leading to them. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.
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Alistair takes a cue from his dwarven friend, grabbing and loading his crossbow.
"Arm yourselves, friends. As likely as it is that miss Blakros befell some tragedy brought upon by an artifact she recovered, it is just as likely she was accosted by an enemy of her family. Best to be ready for anything."
Alistair nods at Magrim to signal his readiness.
Gertie sniffs around as well.
As Magrim and Lagertha inspect the rest of the room, two of the statues at the other door animate as dark energy swirls around them. They give a deafening screech, before charging at the pair. The gargoyles draw their longsword as they leap, bringing them down in powerful swipes on the druid and his companion.
Initiative:
Initiative:
1st: Alistair; Hasshin; Leepo; Magrim; Lagertha
2nd: Statues (Red; Blue)
3rd: Eponine; Piety
Leepo's familiar fires off a crossbow bolt, however it clatters off the statue in front of it. Leepo's blast of acid seems to find its way through the melee to hit one of the gargoyles.
Hasshin steps up and takes a swing at the gargoyle with his earth breaker, but the hammer instead finds a small tile on the ground to destroy as he leaves a tiny crater in the floor of the storage room.
Alistair summons up a patch of Grease under the feet of the golems.
One of the gargoyles falls over, but the other stands its ground.
Initiative:
1st: Alistair; Hasshin; Leepo; Magrim; Lagertha
2nd: Statues (Red; Blue-Prone)
3rd: Eponine; Piety
Gertie's back muscles grow instantly as she snaps at the prone statue as well, biting and clawing at it savagely.