Gameplay open for dottage.
/dot
Venture-Captain Drandle Drang looks tired as he calls an emergency meeting in the middle of night, again, at his chambers in the Grand Lodge. “I’m sorry to call you in on such short notice and on such a dark night, but a friend of the Society needs your help immediately.” From an adjoining chamber, an elegantly dressed woman of middle age with olive skin and long, straight black hair and piercing eyes steps into the room.
“Allow me to introduce to you Hamaria Blakros, of the esteemed Blakros family, whose name I’m sure you all know.” Hamaria sits at Dreng’s side, smooths her satin dress over her knees, and speaks in a clear though pained voice.“I’m afraid my forebears made a terrible mistake, and I need you to help remedy the situation. When the Blakroses were first gaining a financial and social foothold centuries ago, my ancestors made a pact called the Penumbral Accords with a strange organization on the Shadow Plane called the Onyx Alliance, which granted us trade routes through its dark realm to avoid unpleasant searches, tariffs, and questions among the many parties with whom we traded. At the time, this was an invaluable service, but as our wealth and influence grew, the benefits became less pronounced. She pauses, drawing a deep breath. "Now, almost five centuries later, we no longer want to pay the ongoing price of this agreement. Since that time, we’ve been providing a steady stream of slaves to the Onyx Alliance... She glances at Dreng out of the corner of eye, her cheeks coloroing a tint of deep red. ..."including the eldest of our daughters each generation."
"This year we have two eldest daughters—my twins Eleanir and Michellia—and I refuse to let them be taken! But we can’t actively break the Penumbral Accords ourselves. We don’t know all the details other than our end of the bargain, which requires us to deliver slaves to our very own Blakros Museum on the night of each new moon—and to deliver the eldest Blackros daughter of each generation on the new moon after her 21st birthday. We are told to stay away until dawn, and have honored this command thus far. In every instance for generations, we’ve returned to find no sign of the slaves or our own heirs left in the building. They’ve got some device that lets them take our daughters to their plane, something that only functions one night a month, and only until dawn."
She begins to wring her hands. "That night is tonight, and my Eleanir and Michellia are already there! I need you to get in before the sun rises and deactivate or destroy whatever allows them to keep stealing our people. If that prevents them from ever threatening us and holding the Penumbral Accords over our heads again, even better.” Dreng leans forward. “You understand, I’m sure, how valuable our relationship with the Blakros family is to the Decemvirate. Their assets at the museum are immense, and assisting the Lady Hamaria tonight will go along way to ensuring that both her family and our organization can form a long-lasting alliance that will benefit all parties.” He finishes and fixes everyone one of you with a rheumy-eyed stare, then glances at Hamaria, who nods once in agreement. “Hurry to Blakros Museum, friends. There isn’t much time!”
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"That is a high price to pay, I do not blame you for wishing to pay it no longer. My daughter has gone missing in the chaos of La Revolution and I feel your pain. I found no help from the slim scaffolding of a government and the Gray Gardeners could not even locate her. Let us hope that the Pathfinders have more luck with your daughters. If anyone is capable of ending this rotten deal, it will be the Pathfinders."
Turning to his companions with a sudden sense of urgency, Beleg says, "We should be quick. Allow me an hour to study my spellbook and I will be ready to go. If anyone else needs equipment, use this time to gather it."
Cantrips
Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Read Magic
First level
Grease, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shocking Grasp
Pearl of Power (1st) (2)
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The swarthy young northman strokes the blonde moustache that highlights his chiseled jaw. His face a mask of semi-detached interest.
"Honour is a strange thing, I see your predicament. Fortunately you have friends Mr Dreng, friends with open ears. Friends who remember ...favours. I will go and fetch back your kin."
The Ulfen looks to the party "Misfortune awaits us outside" he offers cryptically and appears ready to leave.
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Grim Dougal has never been known for his delicate turn of phrase, or been accused of spending too long at the books, his reputatuin was always one of battle, beer, and raucous song. This day however, he tired asking as politely as he could about the nature of things.
He tries being 'Nordic, but nice'.
Diplomacy
Rememebring what they know and checking with their sources, the party is able to discover these tidbits of knowledge.
In recent years, the Blakros Museum has been the site of a number of strange occurrences, many of which were handled quietly in the dead of night by agents of the Pathfinder Society.
In the early days of Absalom, the Blakros Museum was originally the stronghold of an eccentric wizard. Abandoned for centuries, it was later bought by House Blakros, who turned it into a museum for their impressive collection of curiosities from across Golarion.
The mad astrologer Ralzeros the Overwatched built what is now the Blakros Museum thousands of years ago as an observatory to study distant worlds and even other planes of existence (and some say, to be studied by them). He later disappeared following a mage-duel with another of Absalom’s early wizards.
The wealthy and prominent House Blakros is a large, extended clan of eccentrics with trade contacts rivaling those of the Aspis Consortium, who made most of their money selling valuable antiquities across the border between Taldor and Qadira. Their daughters are known far and wide for their beauty, and marrying a Blakros woman is a sure path to power and riches.
After acquiring all the information, the party sets out for the Blakros, in the middle of the night. The Blakros Museum is a large and well furnished gothic building that rises out of the night like a great looming shadow. Approaching the museum, you find the doors unlocked.
Beleg sets his ioun torch to spinning and the party enters the museum. Looking around you notice great pillars of hewn black stone support the vaulted ceiling of the Blakros Museum’s grand entryway, visible through its wide, double doors. Braziers mounted on the pillars cast white radiance from balls of continual light. A fossilized dinosaur skeleton occupies the northwest corner of the room. Upon crossing the threshold, the air ripples and all visible surfaces shimmer as if they were momentarily composed of still, reflective liquid. As soon as the effect manifests, the strange sensation ends, leaving thick shadows covering all surfaces. The white light of the braziers glows an arcane shade of blue, illuminating the shadowy form of a different skeleton that overlays the more solid dinosaur from moments ago.
Everywhere you look, you see the normal items of the museum and the corresponding things of the Shadow Plane, such as the dinosaur and the skeleton.
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Beleg says a few quick words under his breath, noting the taxonomic classification of the beast in front of them. He explains, "My father was a Mwangi scholar. Never traveled there himself but he spoke the language and studied books and artifacts. Still does, in fact. He lectures at the Arcanamirium occasionally."
Beleg will then draw his weapon. Party members who have traveled with Beleg before will note that he no longer favors his longsword but instead holds a more exotic looking blade made of a black metal with a high sheen that glows faintly in the darkness.
Beleg will lead the way forward if there are no objections.
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"Thanks" Beleg responds to Grim. "It was given to me by. . . a benefactor. Interesting properties is has."
Unfortunately the campaign fizzled out after that session and I'll never know the follow-up to that story. So I made Beleg into a PFS character instead.
The party finds nothing of interest in the entry, but as Beleg steps into the hall, suddenly from where the fossilized skeleton stood on the wall, a real skeleton from the Shadow Plane steps out and moves to attack.
Grim and his lion flank the skeleton and attack, but their attempts fail to hit.
Asuna moves into attack, but is just as successful as Grim's, as the skeleton dodges the strike.
Zorlax strides forward and smacks the skeleton mightily with the flat of his blade. The skeleton explodes into a myriad of shards and crumbles to the ground.
As the party moves into the hallway, there are three doors. One to the north, one to the south, and one at the very end of the hallway.
Beleg moves to open the door to the north. A sign over the door bearing bright lettering reads “Treasures of Distant Goka,” while a shadowy sign occupying the same space reads in dark, block letters “Cold Storage—Perishable Specimens Only.” As Beleg opens the door, the party notices that this area is quite cooler than the other part of the museum.
Entering the party sees: Dozens of mannequins dominate this room, each decorated in the trappings of distant Tian Xia. Ceremonial armor of samurai from Minkai and the silk gowns of courtly ladies catch the eye, but the delicate tea sets in long glass display cases seems out of place next to the strange shadowy figures leaning against the fan-decorated walls. Humanoid bodies encased in ice stand scattered throughout the room, and a glaze of dark rime covers the floor.
As everyone examines the surroundings, what appears to be a snake made of iron moves toward the party.
The moves up and attacks Beleg.
The iron snake lands a vicious bite on Beleg. The magus feels something like fire run through his veins as the snakes teeth sink in.
Asuna's moves up an swings at the cobra, but misses.