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"Peace sister!" Liasna intervenes. In an attempt to soften her comment, though, she smiles and adds, respectfully, "And we mean no harm - is there perchance some reason you are guarding this place? We are here to assist in an investigation." Seeing no reason to hold the truth from a sister and fellow follower of Sarenrae, she adds, "We think the stonemason Arkath may have taken some secret literally into his tomb and believe that it has a link to a possible traitor in the Pathfinder Society."
She checks her pockets and, if she doesn't have the paper, turns to the others for the notes they'd found. If they're in her possession, she shows them to the other woman. "Perhaps you can help us - will you allow us to pass? As I said before, we will do no harm here." The oracle smiles, not bothering to hide her (pleasant) surprise at having met another Sarenite. She'd not expected one so violent, but even the Dawnflower had her reasons, right?
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The cleric takes Liasna's papers in her shield hand, and only after reading them does she sheathe her mace. "Greetings, sister. I am called Onyeka. I do not trust these ruffians you call companions, but perhaps it would be okay for you to pay your respects to this Arkath."
Onyeka escorts you to the correct mausoleum, then watches with arms crossed and never more than a few feet away. The crypt sports numerous bas-reliefs and other carvings, but the interior of Arkath’s sarcophagus is empty and bare, save for the stonemason’s skeleton. Inside his mouth, you find a small silver coin that looks quite ancient.
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Akash wonders aloud to the party, mindful of the priestess watching and listening, "Not familiar with the partic'lars a Sarenite burials, but looks like somebody might a des'crated the poor bloke's coffin. Imagine, stickin' a coin in 'is mouth like that."
He shakes his head in sadness and asks Liasna, "'Twould only be fittin' for a holy lass such as yerself to remove the vile thing and give 'im a right proper Dawnflower blessin', wouldn't it?
Akash breathes a low whistle, "D'ye think it's cursed? Wouldn't lay a finger on it, me."
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"Well met, Onyeka," Liasna acknowledges the introduction. "I am Liasna." Nodding towards her companions, she promises, "If any put so much as a toe out of line, you're welcome to give 'em a gentle wallop. They're a good sort, and I'd say you're more at risk of that one's pretty lines than any violence." She gestured towards Teflon, just a bit casually. She winked at him, too, to take any bite out of the joke.
She looks about in awe, impressed by the carvings and reliefs. They're quite pretty, but... Arkath's remains are rather... Well. Decrepit.
The coin, though - it looks quite old, but not like something that out to be there. "The secret he took to his grave, perhaps?"
Liasna shook her head at the man's folly and reached out to carefully remove the coin, doing her best to keep from jostling the corpse. She showed it to Onyeka and the others, noting, "What do you know? We were right. He really did leave something here."
Passing it off for the moment, she reaches up towards the sun - or where it would've been if not for the rather solid ceiling - and murmured, "May the light of the Dawnflower bring you peace, wherever you are now."
Her blessing - brief though it was - done, she returns her attention to the others and to the coin, examining it more carefully when her turn comes around again.
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"The name's Skillet and I'm so glad to have had the pleasure of meeting a woman so dedicated to her work." He says with a sly smile and squinted eyes. "Lady Onyeka, beautiful name by the way, I was wondering if you might recognize this coin. We aren't sure if it was part of the burial ritual or something else entirely." He motions at the coin to have her take a closer look.
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The cleric puts a hand on her mace and stares at Skillet until he moves away, then addresses Liasna, "The coin is certainly an odd memorial, and not part of Sarenite ritual. Still though, I cannot allow you to take anything that belongs here.
"Study it here and quickly. Then return the coin to this Arkath, and be on your way, if you please."
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Liasna draws out her wayfinder and shows it to Onyeka, as proof. "As I said before, we are working with the Pathfinder Society - we're field agents. Still, I understand that it would be a conflict of interest if we were to just take it and not return. Might I give you my word as a fellow believer in the Everlight that I'll bring it back to you within the day?" She pauses. "I would be willing to leave this, proof of my confirmation as a field agent, with you until I return to ensure I bring the coin back. Is this acceptable to you?"
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"Well, I suppose that would be okay," Onyeka begins telling Liasna, but then she reaches for her mace when Akash begins casting his spell. She quickly recognizes the orison though, and lets go of her weapon. "You're expecting something magical, are you? If the coin is indeed that valuable, then I will need your wayfinder for assurance."
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"This coin must be the key that was mentioned in the notes. But what it unlocks remains a mystery."Skillet says as he recalls the contents of the letters.
"One last question Onyeka, you wouldn't know where this might fit, would you? Any type of small slot or something?" He says with one last question.
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Liasna hands her prized wayfinder over without any qualms and, instead, a smile. "Many thanks - I'll be sure to be back before the day ends."
If it turns out that Onyeka, indeed, doesn't know anything, Liasna agrees with the group, "Yes, the Arcanamirium has a great many scholars and students, right? I imagine someone there will be able to point us in the right direction." She bumps her elbow gently into Teflon's - an easy touch and a kind of praise for thinking to ask Onyeka. Certainly, she hadn't considered it.
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Once on the Arcanamirium grounds, you have no trouble finding Fimbrik’s address. His house is rather large, with numerous newspapers piled around the door and crammed into a thin slot at its base. Each rounded corner of the building has a large window, but the front door is the only entrance.
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Liasna winces at Onyeka's sharp rebuke before patting the man on the shoulder. "I think she's a bit out of your league, hon."
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As they get closer to the Arcanamirium, Liasna begins looking for scholars or, frankly, anyone that might know what the coin is. If she sees someone that looks promising, friendly, or maybe even helpful, she'll call out to them.
"Excuse me, I hope you don't mind, but I've got a really quick question," she'd say, holding up the coin and adding, "I'm trying to identify this - we think it has some magical properties but we're not sure what it does." Liasna is hoping for a quick and easy answer, considering that she'd lent her wayfinder away. It's not the most precious thing in the world, but it's certainly of great importance to her.
Regardless of whether or not they're able to solve the mystery with the people of the Arcanamirium or not, she'll try to keep from holding the party up too much. Upon arriving at Fimbrik's, though, she pauses. The home is rather a great deal larger than she'd initially expected. She goes to look in the large window at the corner to the left of the door.
Getting there, however, gives her the creepy crawlies. The building is larger than her vision extends and being away from her allies in the midst of a task makes her uncomfortable at best. She's quick to return and report her results.
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Akash recalls a conversation at the Grog Pit with a couple of poker-playing day laborers from the Arcanamiriam. "The Arcanamirium is Absalom’s oldest and biggest magical institution, and, accordin' to some, the most prestigious arcane school in the whole Inner Sea. Unlike its competition, it encourages the combo a magic with fightin', sneakin', prayin', and e'en the ordinary stuff."
He looks around the entry to Fimbrik's home. Ain't seen this much newspaper since I had to swab the poop deck a some nobleman's yacht. Lubber must a paid his su'scription years in advance."
Akash points to the southeast corner of the house. "Let's peek in the winders, 'fore we go in. Anybody asks, I'm just lookin'. No harm in that, right?"
He moseys over to the window and looks inside.
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Akash slinks back to the group standing on the stoop. "The gnome is home. Spied the pink-haired feller through yon winder lookin' at a mess a books an such."
He looks around. "We could knock. Can't hurt to try. Or we could take a look in the other winders." Akash looks again at the mess at their feet. "Don't look like Fimbrik uses the door much hi'self."
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When she can't find anyone that knows what the coin is, she sighs, disappointed. "Well, drat." She frowns, considering who else might know-- "Oh! Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to visit with Janira after this. She knows just about everything, being both a bard and awesome. I imagine she'll have something to say about this thing, even if it's just a suggestion for where else to go."
Now that she's got that decided, she steps forward, trying to not trip over the ridiculous number of papers, and knocks as loudly as she can.
"Well, it's polite to knock, right?" she points out. "And, well. I don't want to break anything if we can help it. It's so large, I can only imagine it's something that passes for nice hereabouts."
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When her knock doesn't get her any response, Liasna tries the door - is it locked? Seeing as the person at least appears to be home, she assumes it could be, but there's never a guarantee. Some people just liked to be safe, after all!
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Cynan and Liasna can't tell anything about the door, other than that it's locked--and Teflon has even less success than them. His antics go completely unnoticed. But the gnome does look pretty old, he must be deafer than a doorknob.
Teflon's behavior does attract somebody's attention though, as a group of students walks over to the Pathfinders. "Hey, there! What're you doing in that window?"
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"I'm either the worst burglar ever or I'm trying to get the tenants attention. What do you think?" Skillet says out of breath and slightly annoyed. "Do you know him? Or know a way to get his attention? I'm starting to think he is deaf." He stays in front of the window as to not miss his opportunity.
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The students look through the window, at the papers, then at each other. "Uh, no."
"No, we don't know Professor Fimbrik at all."
"Of course he's home though. Isn't that him right there?"
One of the students knocks politely on the window, then gives it a nice bang. "Hmm . . . maybe he is deaf, and that's why we haven't had any classes with him. He's retired."
"But what about the papers?"
"He's a gnome. What grown man would dye his hair pink? The kind who leaves newspapers on his porch."
After a couple minutes of speculation, the boys notice some female students walking by and quickly apologize for not being more helpful.
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"What If this is some kind of an illusion? Like a security decoy? Only one way to find out." After speaking, Skillet wraps a cloth around his hand and breaks the window where he sees the gnome. He begins clearing enough glass to crawl in. Before stepping inside he yells, "Mister! Mister! There's an emergency outside! Help!" If still no reaction he enters.
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If you roll 26 or higher, you can learn more information.
Liasna's hand passes right through the gnome, who immediately disappears. Everybody else follows her into the room, where Akash senses a moderately powerful magic aura, but nobody is able to find anything else of interest.
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Skillet hastily checks the door for traps, then opens it and sees a meeting room with enough chairs, pillows and desks for six people to comfortably discuss magic late into the night.
On the table, he finds a neatly penned letter. Underneath it is a hastily scrawled note in similar handwriting with the name “Doulgonlir Caskmail”. The only other things of interest are a couple of potions resting on the windowsill.