Outpost: nightdeath S00-05 Mists of Mwangi (1-5) (Inactive)

Game Master nightdeath

The Blakros Museum rises into the night sky, its single black spire severing the full moon in twain. The black iron gates surrounding the exhibition hall grind in protest against the wind. Beyond, the museum’s large oaken doors stand wide open, a silver-gray mist belching forth from the cavernous darkness within. You wonder how you ended up here, standing at the precipice of unknown terrors, and instantly Venture- Captain Adril Hestram’s wide looming face is conjured into your minds’ eye. His booming words ring out from memory as clearly as he spoke them only one hour ago:

“The Blakros Museum is cursed. Some darkness has descended upon the place and those who enter are blasted with evil and left raving through its halls, more beast than men. The curator, Nigel Aldain, is an old associate of the Society, though he chose to leave our organization some years back after a disagreement.”
Adril looked sheepish then, as if remembering some distasteful incident from his youth.

“Nigel has long denied the Society access to the Blakros Museum’s considerable collection of relics and scrolls, using his extensive contacts to nab several excellent finds right out from under us... he always had a nose for the hunt. Whatever is past between Nigel and the Society, he needs our help now. Perhaps if we can come to his aid, he may think on rejoining the Pathfinder Society, or at least offering to share his discoveries with us.”

“Apparently the trouble at Blakros Museum began this morning, shortly after a wayward Pathfinder named Lugizar Trantos returned to Absalom after months spent in the Mwangi Expanse. Supposedly, instead of coming straight to the Lodge to report in, he went to Blakros, sold his finds to Nigel, and then disappeared with a hefty sum of gold. The few who glimpsed Lugizar claimed he was much changed by his time in the Mwangi... gaunt, his eyes yellowed and unfocused, a strange rasping cough that seemed to wrack his now wasted frame. Whatever he brought back with him, we believe it is the cause of the Blakros Museum’s ills. Root it out.”

A burly dwarf listens intently to the venture-captain, his eyes not betraying the fear building inside him.

I knew joining the Society would test my mettle, but this? Seems like a fool's errand. I'll need another drink before heading in, that's for sure.

The dwarf reaches down to a flask at his hip, but thinks better of it and drops his hand to his side instead. He continues to listen, not speaking.

"So this is just as much a mission about getting back what's rightfully ours as it is helping Nigel. Got it," Philoneus said with a perpetual scowl on his face.

Philoneus Tippertille is an unpleasant looking Halfling. His hair is tousled and matted, with a few feathers sticking out at random. Feet covered in soil remained unbound by shoes, his ankles similarly dirty. His armor, however, was impeccable. The red scale breastplate shed light brilliantly where the sun hit it. He had a few weapons on him, a spear, a sling, as well as a finely made wooden shield. His backpack was full, but closed.

He addressed his comrades. "Philoneus Tippertille." The halfling gave a curt nod before tilting his head towards his velociraptor companion. "Mr. Tiggles.

Mr. Tiggles preened himself silently beside his master, though the more perceptive among you would notice his eyes on everyone in the room through his feathers. Every so often he'd start sniffing Philoneus' bag and looking expectantly at his master, but go back to preening once it was certain he wouldn't be fed.

"Greetings! Igmar Sterngut, faithful servant of The Drunken God," Igmar says, mustering as much courage in his voice as he's able, though it still sounds more strained than he'd like. Both the dark hair on his head and on his beard are braided intricately, and a somewhat shoddy set of scale mail wraps his squat frame. Contrasting the many weapons hanging off him at his hip and on his back, he wears a small wooden tankard around his neck, held in place by a leather strap.

He nods at his new companions in turn.

"Philoneus. Tiggles."

A short, stilted halfling stands discretely at the side of the room.

"Oh, the poor man!" Nithrun clucks sympathetically. "I certainly hope that no one else will be driven to anything less than full sanity."

Another halfling steps into the room and smiles at her companions before the briefing. She is wearing a standard tan and grey exploring outfit with a backpack slung over her shoulders. A bright red scarf wrapped around her neck accentuates her auburn hair and pale skin. As the briefing goes on her excitement is obviously increasing.

After the VC finishes the first part of the briefing she turns to her companions. "Oh my this is going to be so awesome! We get to go into a new museum AND root out trouble. I'm going to look at all the exibits and study them and read everything that they have and and..."

Her face gets a little red and she stops for a second, before calmly resuming. "My apologies. I'm Kaya Leafwing, at your service." She curtsies to the group.

Igmar chuckles at Kaya's enthusiasm.

"No need to apologize, Kaya. I, for one, appreciate your enthusiasm! This is my first assignment, so it's good to see that an experienced agent like yourself can go into these missions without feeling physically ill." Igmar laughs again, primarily to hide the actual queasiness he's feeling at the prospect of facing this unidentified darkness.

A blonde Elf clad in a maroon robe leans forward from his chair in the shadows of the room. An emerald goblet is in his pale hand. His violet eyes peer intently at the Venture-Captain.

"Zis Blakros Museum, eet ees a rival to ze Pathfinders, no? Eet may be folly to tink zis Nigel Aldain weel change his tune no matter what we do for him. But in any case, zou obviously have decided to zend us to zis Mwangi place. I suppose I should stock up on ze sangria as such a place is likely to be a barbarous hellhole zat serves only table wine in place of ze real zing."

He drinks from the goblet after leaning back into his seat. A platter of cheese, sliced meats, and crackers is in front of him. He has crumbled up some of these items and placed them on the table beside the platter. A scorpion with a faint greenish tint to its exoskeleton picks up a piece of the meat with its claws and brings it to its mouth to feed upon it.

"Greetings, my fellow Pathfinders. I am Xusius Xometh, late of Kyonin. Despite our destination, I look forward to working with zou on zis mission. It shall be ze first of what I anticipate to be many such missions."

Venture- Captain Adril hands over a map to Igmar.
"This is a map of the mususem and I hope it proves helpful in finding your way through it.I'd suggest that you head to the offices first to find Nigel as he may have some insight into whatever foul curse vexes the place."

Knowledge (History),
Knowledge(local or Gather Information Checks please

K: History: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

K: Local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Kaya greets the blonde elf with a small curtsy and eyes the scorpion. "Oh, he is just the cutest little guy... er gal... er what is the little scorpion's name?"

Terrible knowledge rolls! Eww..

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Later outside the museum she loads a crossbow bolt and slings the weapon back over her shoulder. Then pulling a thick book from her pack she browses through about the first 30 pages and slips it back into her backpack. "Shall we go see what is happening inside?"

History: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Local: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

"That must be quite a large museum if it requires a map," Nithrun comments.

_________

Nithrun follows quietly, allowing everyone else to walk in front of him. "We will have to enter the museum in any case, but I do hope Nigel will be friendly," his shrill voice pipes up from the back.

"Maybe it's just poorly designed. After all the stories I heard coming out of that place, I wouldn't be surprised," Philoneus said with a scowl.

___________

At the museum, Philoneus tosses food to Mr. Tiggles. "It would be better to go in now than to wait. If Nigel ain't friendly, then what's it to us? Not like we're Pathfinders or anything, being treated with hostility's just another day."

Mr. Tiggles snatches each bit of food that his master tosses him out of the air, gulping it down without bothering to chew. All good things come to an end, and his master shows his palm, signalling that they were empty. With a disappointed warble, Mr. Tiggles starts sniffing the other small ones in the party. He sure was traveling with a lot of small ones lately. Not that he minded; his favorite people were small ones. Once he got the scent of his master's friends, he went about preening himself, making sure that he was clean and no extra food had snuck passed his eyes and into his feathers.

Xusius reaches down and picks up a piece of cheese from the platter and places it near the scorpion. The scorpion reaches out and latches onto the cheese, followed by dragging it to its mouth. While doing so, it almost appears as if the scorpion is signaling its approval of the cheese to its master.

"E' answers to Jacques, but I zink he has a name for himself in ze scorpion world. Eet ees no matter. Jacques ees quite friendly for a creature known for eets nasty disposition. Unless of course you threaten him, in wheech case Jacques ees quite deadly. No worries zough, while adventuring Jacques stays safe in my pouch. I do not weesh for him to be trampled. I find zat he brings me ze ability to zink fast in situations. Eet ees a feat which I appreciate most exquisitely."

I will toss a Knowledge(Arcana) check out there as it is a museum with a curse in the forlorn hope that it is useful. I do not have ranks in History or Local.

Knowledge(Arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

"That must be quite a large museum if it requires a map," Nithrun comments.

Kaya instantly responds, "oh no, all good museums have a map. One wouldn't be able to plan out what exhibits to go to if there wasn't one!"

_________

"E' answers to Jacques, but I zink he has a name for himself in ze scorpion world. Eet ees no matter. Jacques ees quite friendly for a creature known for eets nasty disposition. Unless of course you threaten him, in wheech case Jacques ees quite deadly. No worries zough, while adventuring Jacques stays safe in my pouch. I do not weesh for him to be trampled. I find zat he brings me ze ability to zink fast in situations. Eet ees a feat which I appreciate most exquisitely."

"Oh, that is an excellent name. I'm glad he is so friendly!"

_________

Nithrun follows quietly, allowing everyone else to walk in front of him. "We will have to enter the museum in any case, but I do hope Nigel will be friendly," his shrill voice pipes up from the back.

As they approach, Kaya's excitement overwhelms her and she unusually darts to the front to lead the way through the open large oaken doors to the museum. From her look at the map she tries to lead the way to Nigel's office.

Diplomacy to Gather Information: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

As the approach the museum, Igmar visibly tenses. His hands instinctively move back and forth between his weapons, his holy symbol, and his flask, but he doesn't draw any of them.

"I'm sure this Nigel character will be happy for our help! How could he not be?" His voice cracks a bit as he says it.

Between the group, they discover the following;

Lugizar Trantos spent the better part of a year in the Mwangi. At first he wrote letters to his brother and wife, but after a few months these stopped coming and most gave him up for dead.

His letters spoke of a lucrative find at one point, three idols of dark wood carved in the shape of bearded monkeys.

Due to some party member's due diligence to studyng moulding ancient texts;
Much of the Mwangi’s darkest interior is ruled by a demon lord named Angazhan, who is described in an ancient text as a thing of primordial darkness, a foulbreathed demon who grunts prophecies of blood to apes and madmen. The jungle is his beating heart.

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As Kayla leads the group towards the Blakos Museum...........THe doors seems unnaturally cold.
Avatars placed outside Area 1.

Upon entering the chambers..........
Place yourself in Area 1.
Will save too please.
An unnatural cold permeates this chamber and the tendrils of silver-gray mist flowing out the front archway into the courtyard beyond seem to effortlessly pierce the flesh and gently caress the bone in a cold embrace. The grand entranceway’s vaulted ceiling is supported by six great pillars of hewn black stone. Braziers mounted on the pillars cast white radiance from balls of continual light. The light glimmers eerily in the silvery haze that fills the atrium, giving the impression of something alien watching from the glowing fog.

First, talk of demon lords, and now this strangeness? Something is definitely not right here.

Igmar says a quick prayer to Cayden Cailean before entering the building, warhammer in hand.

Will save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22 +2 against spells or spell-like abilities

Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16 +2 vs. fear effects.

Kaya's exuberance slows as the cold assails her body. She pulls her cloak tighter around her body as she shivers involuntarily. Eyes dart around looking for the source of the chill.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

Igmar shrugs off the unnatural cold while Kaya does so with more difficulty seeing as the dwarf's natural robust health aided with liquid courage proved more then a match for the chill of the place.

Kaya notices......that the doors and walls have a thin layer of water on them and that the mist surrounding them is pale and carries a scent that she is unable to identify.

She breaths a sigh of relief, I'm glad Janira convinced me to get this cloak. Seemed to help there!

Now a tad concerned that there might be something really wrong nearby, Kaya pulls out her crossbow. When her allies come inside, she starts moving forward quietly.

Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

"Stay close, Mr. Tiggles," Philoneus orders. "What is this?" Philoneus grunts at the mist.

Will save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

He takes the time to look over the mist a little closer.

Know Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

If his knowledge fails him, detect magic on the mist and in the room.

Mr. Tiggles sticks close to his master, staying on his left and walking alongside as he was trained to do.

Will save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

I have to change the familiar. I forgot that the Greensting Scorpion is not CORE. I will switch to a rat familiar and keep the previous text. Just insert rat for scorpion. Sorry about that! Xusis' initiative will change to +9 as he loses +4 from the scorpion. He instead picks up +2 to his Fort save.

Xusius shivers and pulls his cloak around him for warmth. "Shh, Jacques. Eet ees a time for silence so we may hear of any danger approaching in zis gloomy place, mon ami."

Will save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 +2 if vs. fear
Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

"Oh, my. Is it just me, or is it cold in here?" Nithrun asks. When he too notices the mist, he also tries to uncover what it might be.

Everyone else notices something strange as they all resist the cold, however Nithrun looks different.
I'll leave it to you to describe your new appearance.
Please See Mist Tainted Template for changes to your char.

As everyone gathers, some begins to grip their weapons tighter anticipating trouble.

"This is becoming uncomfortable..." Nithrun complains. He drops to his knees and puts his arms before him on the ground, sitting as a dog might sit on its hind legs. His face, arms and legs all swell up immediately. Finally, he opens his mouth and lets his tongue rest on his lower lip.

"Why we all sitting here? I'm hungry," Nithrun says from the floor.

Xusius looks at Nithrun's antics and says, "Zis ees not good. We need to get to ze offices and find ze idols. I have a feeling zat zey may be behind zis gloomy fog which ees affecting our short singer here. Who will be taking ze lead?"

Kaya glances back and her eyes go wide, "um... Nithrun... you uh... are you okay? Is that normal?"

She looks at her allies as she moves back to check closer on Nithrun, "soooo I just realized that we may have some immediate issues going on in the museum and it isn't just a nice stroll through exhibits. I'm uh... better in the back shooting stuff. Anyone want to take lead and try to find Nigel to figure out what is going on here?"

"Mr. Tiggles and I will take the lead. I'm not sure what's happening to monkey boy back there but I'm sure not going to stay here and try to figure it out. Philoneus decisively leads Mr. Tiggles to the doors and looks back at the group as if to ask "well?"

I'm on my phone so I can't move my tokens, sadly.

Looking at Nithrun, Igmar thinks to himself.

What have I gotten myself into?

"I wish I could do something to help you, my friend, but we'll search for a solution as fast as possible. I'll stay in the middle, but can support Philoneus at the front as necessary."

With that, Igmar follows Philoneus to the door.

Xusis strides forward and draws his rapier. "I may need eet eef I cannot cast a spell as quickly as I would like to."

He follows Igmar.

Moved Philoneus up to the hallway as requested.

Kaya levels her crossbow and attempts to cover him as he moves down the hall.

"Of course I'm okay," Nithrun replies to Kaya. "I'm just hungry. Maybe Nigel has food." He gallops ahead on all fours after Philoneus, as his skin continues to swell.

West Exhibit Hall: A placard above this hall reads “The Honored Dead” in bloodred calligraphy.

East Exhibit Hall: A large placard above the entryway to this hall reads “Hunting the Beasts of Legend” in great block letters.

Got to love that portrayal

"My philosophy, always go left," Philoneus tells the group before he casts Heightened Awareness on himself and pulling his spear and shield. He listened at the door to the West Exhibit Hall for any possible entities inside before entering the hall.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29

"As wise a philosophy as I've ever heard," Igmar chimes in before following the halfling through the door.

"I favor zee left een almost everything, so going to ze left ees a wonderful idea to me, monsieur."

Nithrun reads the signs. They don't mean much to him anymore. "Sure, left," he grunts.

Philoneus hears slight shuffling from within the room but nothing else.

Opening the door, the scene revealed is surreal and the first thing anyone would notice is the further drop in temperature.

The mists here congeal into a thick and silvery fog that cools the lungs. A giant warrior looms from the haze, his arms crossed at his chest, his helm solemn and still. Beyond lie sarcophagi of varied designs, and a few glass cases wherein withered dead are held upright by rods and string, grim exhibits of long-dead citizens whose fallen empires were erased an age past.

Without a word, though definitely not stealthily, Philoneus guided Mr. Tiggles farther into the room, watching and listening for any dangers hidden in the mist.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

"What are we doing just standing here?" Nithrun asks, uncharacteristically impatient. "Is Nigel here?" he continues to ask while scratching himself.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Xusius moves up following Philoneus and Mr. Tiggles.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Kaya moves into the hallway, covering the exit in case her allies need a swift retreat.

Perception because everyone else is doing it!: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

lighting conditions?

Igmar moves in as well, moving along the east side of the room.

Percpetion: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Misty with chance of Clouds.
Visible, the mist is just for effect.

Round 1
Xusius
Red
Philoneus Tippertille & Mr. Tiggles
Kaya
Green
Nithrun
Purple
Yellow
Igmar

As the party enters the room, there is but a moment of silence before heads are jerked up and the exibits begin to move with an eerie red light within where their eyes were.

One is a withered, mummified thing from beneath Osirion’s sands bearing a jeweled scarab on its chest among its spiced wrappings, a scarab seer and warrior-priest of an old pharaonic age. Red

Another is an armored warrior of a long dead empire, clad in heavy discolored bronze plates and helm. Purple

A third is a hulking skeleton, a towering ancestor of the Kellid race who wields a greatclub fashioned from a mammoth’s ivory tusk. Yellow

The fourth is a shrunken emaciated corpse wrapped in rotten silks and holding a silvered Qadiran scimitar in one bony fist. Green

Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 to see if any of these creatures seem to be undead, or something else (it's okay if I can't actually get the answer until I'm up in the initiative order)

Red and Green are different from Purple and Yellow.

Cayden protect me, what are these things?!

Focusing his attention, Igmar studies the hulking skeleton, trying to figure out what it could be.

Igmar will focus on Yellow, since that's the one closest to him.