Drandle Dreng’s entrance is as understated as always at the meeting with him this morning. He carries stacks of papers and tomes, and shedding stray pages as he makes his way toward a large, cushioned chair; once seated, he greets you warmly.
"Welcome, welcome, glad to see you’ve made yourself at home. No point in beating around the bush, since I’m sure you’re all very curious why I called you here today, hm?"
"As you may or may not know, the Society has been bolstering its influence with the esteemed Blakros family for some time now, and have assisted them and their famous museum with various incidents over the past few years—discovering several new levels of catacombs in the process."
"Just recently, the Blakros Museum’s curator, Nigel Aldain, informed us that he’d discovered a mysterious portal within the building’s vast catacombs, and sought information regarding how to open it. We sent one of our agents, a man by the name of Anumet Akrostera, to help research the matter further, which involved delving into the various attics and crawlspaces of the Blakros Museum in search of clues that might lead to the whereabouts of the portal’s key."
"Earlier today, Nigel showed up here, claiming that something was wrong with Anumet. It seems that the Pathfinder set off some sort of curse or trap while poking around in the place’s attics and was acting strangely, and now he can’t be found at all. I need you to head to Blakros Museum and get to the bottom of this. Find Anumet, and if he has gotten himself into irreparable trouble, you’ll also need to take up where he left off and find that key."
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"Venture Captain, can you tell us anything about this portal? Is it something that is actually embedded in the building or is it part of the collection? If you will excuse me I will peruse my chronicles to see if they might offer any help on the subject"
Dimitra peruses her pathfinders for a short time and then puts them away again.
"Not that much information, other than that the Blakros family has a museum here in Absalom. We already knew that."
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Walter frowns as the VC explains his plight.
Are we to assume that you ordered one bookish pathfinder into that cursed museum?
He stretches his big frame, glaring at the VC.
So, we need to go in there and--perhaps?--rescue him ,
and explore this suddenly appearing portal?
Walter makes a sign to Abadar.
Your patient judgment upon us Lord!
Dreng answers the Pathfinders:
"Johann, is it? The man with the explodinators? Yes, we have had a few...odd...events in the museum over the years. It's a combination of factors, really. Strange artifacts, the place being an ancient wizard's residence, etcetera, etcetera."
"And fair Dimitra! The loveliest songbird Varisia has produced in some time! Yes, the portal was discovered in the structure of the museum itself. It's a strangely marked copper door, to be precise."
Dreng frowns slightly at Walter.
"Always the dour one, eh? I've heard of you as well Walter. That stern gaze may impress your foes, but don't try it on me! Yes, we sent a single agent at first. He was more skilled and experienced than your average Pathfinder, mind you. I can't say that you'll need to explore the portal itself, just find out what happened to Anumet and find that key!"
Dimitra remembers a little about the place:
The Blakros Museum is owned by the esteemed House Blakros, an extensive clan whose family members have made their fortune by trading odd antiquities across the border of Taldor and Qadira, as well as by marrying off their beautiful daughters to wealthy nobles all around the world. They store many of their curious gifts and the findings of their more adventurous daughters in exhibits in the Blakros Museum, which they purchased for just this purpose.
Through his smooth talking, Walter learns some more:
The Pathfinder Society is interested in forming an alliance with the Blakros family to gain access to their extensive collection of historical and arcane treasures.
Many pieces in the Blakros’s collection are connected to the Dark Tapestry or other otherworldly horrors studied by Ralzeros (called Ralzeros the Overwatched, the wizard who built the place).
By the time you get to the museum, Nigel Aldain is standing outside waiting to meet you. Once the worried curator verifies
that the party members are indeed Pathfinders, he
explains his concerns.
Aldain has a disturbed expression, but looks slightly relieved now that help is at hand. "Thank the gods you’re finally here. It would appear something quite bizarre has happened to my new Pathfinder-turned-assistant, Anumet Akrostera, while we were researching the key to the newly discovered portal beneath the museum. I had warned Anumet that many corners of the museum hold mysteries that, as of yet, have never been looked into, but I’m afraid something got to him all the same, as the last time yesterday I saw him he was acting quite strangely, and he failed to return today. I fear something evil in the attics of the museum may have cursed him."
Nigel looks at Johann.
"Of course, I'll have an aide fetch a sketch shortly."
Then he eyes Walter.
"Yes, he's been alone too long, but I've learned to be cautious about exploring around this place...hopefully it's nothing serious, but I'm sure Drandle sent only capable agents."
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The aide returns, and provides the sketch. Aldain admits you to a ladder leading up to the attics.
You find yourselves in an ill-conceived maze of crawlspaces, attics, and tower chambers, each connected by stairs, ladders, and cramped walkways.
Reeking of vermin droppings, sagging walkways and cramped stairwells connect the museum’s winding upper levels. Stifling heat fills the sealed-off rooms and crannies, and cracked and rotten boards pop and creak at the slightest touch. Dry-rotted debris lies heaped atop broken furniture and shattered crates in the long-disused chambers. Boot prints make an uncertain and winding trail through the thick dust on the attic’s floors.
You can easily follow the trail Anumet’s boot prints left in the thick dust, and soon find a secret door that now stands ajar, seeming to open out of an age-whitened leaden frieze along one tower’s stone flank.
Gunther and Dimitra both notice that the floor leading up to the door appears very weak. It might not support the weight of more than one person at a time..
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Walter moves, the floor creaking ominously from his heavy frame, to the open door and looks inside.
Strange, organic-looking patterns wind across the walls and ceiling of this chamber, and the stone walls look as though they had grown winding tendrils that enshroud the area. At the chamber’s center stands a massive, rust-covered device of gears and arms about fifteen feet across. The end of each arm supports a different colored sphere. Strange projections and barbed arrows point through each of the globes, their directions seemingly random. Opposite from the chamber’s entrance, a naked and clearly dead body is impaled by a rust-red arrow. The corpse faces a gray, wooden door, which stands ajar.
Walter steps into the room, and hears quiet sounds. While he's not sure he's ever heard it in his life before, he is sure it is the sound of brains being eaten.
The corpse’s wounds begin to sizzle and turn green and acid bursts from the corpse, flying towards Walter!
The acid buns Walter, and at the same time he is exposed to a horrific vision that invades his mind:
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Dimitra waits until Walter has left the weak floor and then steps towards him. She pulls out her wand and heals the half-orc.
She then looks into the room.
"That probably is Anumet. I wonder what happened to him. I will let you investigate first Walter, but be careful you do not disturb the orrery. Nigel will probably be very cross if we break it. As far as I know these things are rather expensive."
Dimitra moves into the room, and Gunther follows a little behind. As she enters, Dimitra takes in the macabre scene that Walter discovered.
Initiative:
Pathfinders <<
stuff
Dimitra recognizes the characteristics of a haunt, and senses that this one will continue to harm people until destroyed. Positive or holy energy should do the trick.
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"The shock of dying like this has bound Anumet's spirit to this place to haunt everyone that enters. To release his spirit holy or divine energy is needed"
Dimitra takes her wand of cure light wounds and uses it on the corpse until the haunt is destroyed.
"Walter, would you be so kind as to take Anumet down from there, he deserves a proper burial later"
With two taps of her wand, Dimitra banishes the evil spirits and ends the menace!
The wounds on the corpse are obviously too severe to have been caused by the machine's appendages.
Something has feasted on the body, eating much skin and cracking the skull open to eat its contents...
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