Naw, no percep check... but you do feel like you are being watched as you go.
As you hand the documents over, he eyes them greedily, and in turn hands all of you a not inconsiderable sack filled with gold.
I take care of the people that take care of me. I hope we can do business in the future.
If you would like to do any other interactions with him, you should flextime it.
Where to now?
Okay, so you head that way.
Any other conversation can be flex timed in transition.
You make their way to the rich estate of Grand
Councilmember Dremdhet Salhar, and are greeted by
a guard who is expecting them as they reach the
tall, wrought-iron gate. Once you are
inside, a servant tells the group Salhar is not
present, called away on important Council
business, but his most trusted advisor
is available to negotiate any business
they may require. The servant explains
this while leading the group down well decorated
hallways, past expansive rooms.
After a few minutes, the group arrives at
a simple study near the end of a long hallway.
Inside,a tan-skinned old
man sits behind a desk flipping through
pages in a large tome. Scraps of paper
jut from the book marking over two
dozen different places. As the group
approaches the open door, the wise sage silently
gestures you into the study with one thin hand,
while closing the tome with the other after finishing
what he was reading. Once you are all inside the
study, he addresses the group.
“Good day to you, Pathfinders. I am Amenopheus, the Sapphire
Sage, advisor to Master Salhar. I understand you were sent
here to discuss archaeological permissions. Knowing this was
coming, I spoke with Master Salhar at length on the subject
and have this to say.
“Since Osirion was reopened to exploration a decade ago,
adventurers, historians, and treasure-seekers flock to my
country by the hundreds, perhaps thousands. While most
families with ancestral burial vaults maintain guards and keep
their sites out of the hands of casual thieves, not all families
have the wealth or power to restrict everyone, and as we all
know, not every defense is perfectly secure. Unscrupulous
tomb robbers and maligned merchant organizations cause
Osirion to bleed relics into the Inner Sea—something the
descendents of Ancient Osirion cannot afford. We Osiriani
have thousands of years of rich history coursing through our
veins, and while that power has been out of focus in recent
years, we are content to wait, knowing our enemies will wear
themselves down. As they fall into arrogance, folly, or greed,
we wait for our return to power, knowing we bear the riches of
our ancestors at our feet.
“Master Salhar remains impressed by the Pathfinder
Society, orating in their favor a handful of times in front
of Absalom’s Grand Council, in fact. Due to previous
relationships between him and the Society, Master Salhar
has agreed to grant permission to the Pathfinder Society to
explore his family’s vaults below Sothis. The only thing he
requires is that you retrieve the map of the vaults from his
own vault here. The servant will lead you to the basement
and show you the room.”
The Sapphire Sage’s eyes twinkle as he smirks knowingly,
then he turns back to reading his book as though he had
never been disturbed.
The servant takes you down the hall, and down a set of stairs and opens a large wooden door, and waits for you to enter.
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"Another opportunity to 'retrieve' an article already in someone's possession? Is it just me, or does it seem like no one's being responsible with their property these days?" Lauranna murmured, just loud enough for her companions to hear her.
Aloud, she said, "Is there some reason why you cannot retrieve the maps from the vault and present them to us?"
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Dagbur listens with half an ear, bored of the old mans rambling, but perks up as they're shown out. He didn't appreciate the old man ignoring Lauranna, but old people can be so dumb sometimes. The barbarian does understand the need to find a map in the basement. This should be easy he thinks to himself as they enter the large wooden door.
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Lauranna was a little put out by the man's silence, but servants of powerful people were often difficult to deal with. They seemed to feel that their patron's power was theirs by association, and often treated others far more shabbily than those with actual power.
She stepped into the room and looked around, half expected the door to be slammed behind them. That or to be attacked by something with more legs than any creature ought to have. "Well, where is it?"
20-40 mph winds, too.
I'll post a map of the area.
Here is a map of what you see in the room.
As you move in, you see a plain stone room contains three chests:
a copper-banded chest of smooth, dark wood; a red lacquered chest; and what looks to be a cube of solid steel. Behind the chests sits a low table holding a clear glass jar half full of liquid and a covered wicker basket.
Once all of you enter the room, the servant shuts
the door and locks it behind them. Written on the back
of the door is the message: “Within these cases lies your
quest and your way out.”
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Dagbur looks back as the door is locked behind them, sighing heavily, and gives the door a tug. Finding it truly locked he puts a little muscle into it, just to give it a fair try. When that fails He turns and surveys the objects in the room, but not getting too close. "Um, do we break these open?" Dagbur looks a little lost.
You feel like all of these locks are beyond your ability to pick open.
As you look over all the chests, (I imagine you would study them all for traps) you find one on the small silver cube one.
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"All these locks are beyond my ability, I found a trap here on the cube." He hesitates before starting again. "It makes me really nervous... if I can't pick these locks I am not sure that I could cause this trap impotence."
He gets down into a squat and just furrows his brows back and forth studying the silver cube but for now keeping his hands well inside his pockets.
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Lauranna sighed. "And this is why we usually let the valet enter first. I suppose, given that we have official permission to be here that this is a test, as opposed to any serious attempt to do away with us. By the way, Dagbur, don't go sticking your hand in that jar. It's entirely too obvious. Probably filled with poison or something. Wibeke, see anything in that basket?"
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Dagbur had been standing tall observing things, but his hand was running up and down his armor slowly, his eyes lost in though. At Lauranna's advice the barbarian starts, putting that same hand behind his back a little guiltily. He squints at her a bit, wondering -not for the first time- if she has telepathic powers.
Inside the wicker basket you see a blue stone key, that has glowing runes on it that match the glowing runes on the red laquered chest.
There is a key in the jar, and a blue stone one in the wicker basket. That is all you see at the moment.
It smells like a household bleaching agent, now that it has gotten a chance to get all over the place, and up into the air. Clealy not intended to harm, only to sting.
The key lies in the middle of the table, surrounded by pieces of broken glass.
The key in the jar doesn't seem to go to anything.
THe silver cube trap is disabled.
THe blue stone key has the same glowing runes on it as the red laquered chest but it still lies in the bottom of the wicker basket.
What looks like a green snake pops out and slithered out of the wicker basket blankets onto the shadows of the room.