The party heads back to the Pickled Imp, items in hand. Guaril thanks the group and reiterates the offer for favors in the future. The party then leaves the Imp and heads north through the city making their way to the Wise Quarter. . You soon find yourself at the rich estate of Grand Councilmember Dremdhet Salhar. A guard at the gate says he is expecting the party and shows you in, upon which you are greeted by a servant who 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 Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage, 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 the party into the study with one thin hand, while closing the tome with the other after finishing what he was reading. Once everyone is inside the study, Amenopheus says “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. He begins pacing back and forth. “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. He stops pacing to stare at the group. 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.
After leaving Amenopheus’ study, the servant brings the group back through the spacious estate, leading them down sturdy stone steps into the cool basement. Down a hallway, after a couple turns, the party ends up at a plain wooden door. The servant opens the door, gesturing to the room with a bow, and waits silently for the group to enter.
Once all of the party enters 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.” These five containers hold clues to solving the puzzle of this room and one holds the prize the Pathfinders seek—the map to the Salhar ancestral vaults beneath Sothis. Looking around you see a plain stone room containing 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.
Runar carefully and methodically examines each object, studying each for a few minutes. He notices:
-The Wicker Basket: you detect a faint aura of Transmutation and think you hear sounds and detect movement within the basket.
-The Copper-Banded Chest: you detect faint Illusion magic.
-The Red Lacquered Chest: This smooth, red lacquered chest looks devious. The solid metal plate surrounding the gaping keyhole pulses with glowing amber runes.
-The Steel Chest: This steel cube has only the faintest crack where its lid meets the base, and would be completely featureless save for its narrow keyhole. You detect a faint aura of magic.
-The Glass Jar: Both Runar and Gabriel see clear liquid in the jar.
After Gabriel knocks the wicker basket over, the party begins to hear an angry hissing and a small viper slithers out, rears it's head and strikes at Gabriel. Luckily his armor deflects the tiny fangs.
Runar's arcane ray freezes the ground next to the viper.
Ygdnur's axe decapitates the viper, while the rest of it's body continues to writhe and twist itself into knots.
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Kicking at the body with his boots, making sure this thing doesn't have some sort of trick up it's sleeve, he then backs away from it. "Well, now we know what was in the basket. Maybe we should be a tad more careful as we check the rest of these containers. Why can't anyone just give us what we ask for and not send us in a room full of traps and monsters!"
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Rúnar makes a sound that resembles a chuckle at his kinsman's comment. He takes a step forward to look at the dead viper, crunching on the cold, icy floor-stones left in the wake of his cantrip, and then casts detect magic again, this time on the snake and the basket separately, to determine the origin of the transmutation magic.
Looking on the floor, you see the wicker basket also held a pile of linens and a blue stone key. The key has runes inscribed on it which match the runes around the keyhole of the red lacquered chest. The key radiates faint transmutation, the source Runar detected earlier.
Noticing no traps, Gwion inserts the blue key into the red-lacquered chest. This smooth, red lacquered chest looks devious. The solid metal plate surrounding the gaping keyhole pulses with glowing amber runes. When the chest is opened, a small, golden key emerges from a slit in the ceiling, dropping it 6 inches down from the 15-foot-high ceiling. Gwion noticed some mechanical, clicking sounds when the chest was opened. Inside, the red lacquered chest holds a key forged into the end of a jeweled scepter.
Runar finds the runes obscure and meaningless, other than matching the runes on the chest.
After several tries Horvon finally manages to balance on Crondor's shoulders and knock the key down with Gabriel's spear. The bright, gold key falls to the floor with a clang.