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Kara rests a hand on the sarcophagus as she pretends to wrestle with the heavy lid.
Boy, this is heavy!
Meanwhile, on the underside of her arm, a tiny chitinous creature scurries down and into the depths.
Taking the distraction provided by others, the tiny scorpion grabs the coin deftly and scurries out before the lid is closed.
With an almost imperceptible nod from Kara, the party pushes the lid back in place.
Aragostina sneaks about unnoticed and retrieves the coin.
With the cleric none the wiser, you leave the mausoleum with your prize.
Archimeles does not recognize the strange coin.
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The gray wrinkled thing congratulates the scorpion on avoiding a dishonorable conflict with the clergyman.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The coin does indeed radiate a faint magical aura.
This apparently simple coin, usually styled to resemble ancient currency, hides intricate gold and platinum wires within. This matrix, carefully modeled after fragmentary Azlanti coins, causes the Pathfinder’s coin to rise an inch into the air and slowly spin in place if placed atop a wayfinder. In addition, when levitating above a wayfinder, the coin can be given a message of 25 words or fewer. This message repeats in the speaker’s voice the next time the coin is floated above a wayfinder. Only one message may be stored at a time, and once it is triggered, the message is expended and a new one may be recorded.
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Lizbeth helps close the coffer and leaves with a shrug, rolling her eyes at such a bad acting performance from her comrades but unable to spy the subterfuge of the pluck familiar Scorpion either. As they leave and Lara examines their prize the Vishkanya smiles broadly.
"Well done! Exquisite thing, though I hven't got the faintest clue what it means. Lara any idea? Too bad Pyrgo didn't follow us he was useful in that regard."
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Kara curtsies in response, then seems a little embarrassed by the gesture.
And you are not without your talents, good sir.
The commonfolk bow to each other, not curtsy. I must remember that in the future. Tina, remind me will you?
If no one has a Wayfinder yet, we'll have to return to the lodge. I'm sure someone has one there.
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After watching a lot of stones and hearing the priest talk alot about the importance of rite of passage and the Inevitable departure from this world, he thanks the priest and heads back to the others.
See priest. They closed it up real good again. Thanks for your time.
He then leaves with the rest of the party towards the Wounded Wisp to find a pathfinder with a wayfinder.
You head back to the welcoming common room of the Wounded Wisp, where Janira waves excitedly at you.
"Now isn't this just marvelous! A hidden secret right under this very inn. You're quite lucky, even if you don't think so yourselves. Do tell me more!"
She barely contains a giggle before continuing.
"Of course I'll respect your claim, but if you need any help, just say the word and I'm yours!"
Janira grasps the coin tenderly.
"Is this what I think it is? Well, get your pen and paper ready. We might only get one chance here."
She holds the coin over her own wayfinder, and as she lets go, the coin floats in place. Before long, it starts to spin, and a tinny voice starts speaking.
"The path and chamber are complete, hidden behind the nameplate of the requested aspirant and guarded by the word you requested. Fimbrik will add more."
When Janira is satisfied that the message is over, she cracks a smile.
"Fascinating! I hope this makes more sense to you, than it does to me."
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Lizbeth smiles as the message is revealed and their quest looks closer to completion, with the message indicating the Gnome has a direct hand in this, the Vishkanya sighs and rolls her eyes.
"Well if we must deal with this Fimbrik let us do so, though he may be full of tricks. I think the Starstone nameplates may well be the key based on what we have found now. Well done friend."
You make your way north to the Wise Quarter and inquire about Fimbrik the Illusionist. Within long, you are directed to his town house. A brick step leads to Fimbrik’s front entrance. Numerous stacks of newspapers—roughly 2 years’ worth of monthly copies—are piled around the door and crammed into a thin slot at its base. Each rounded corner of the building has a large window
Kara peeks in one of the windows and sees a chamber containing enough chairs, pillows, and desks to accommodate at least six visitors. After several seconds, a rather colorful gnome enters the chamber and sits in a chair to read a newspaper.
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Shadowfang and the short gray thing sit on the steps as they wait for an answer to the door.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Lizbeth moves with Kara to check the windows of the Gnome's estates, it was an oddity that newspapers would be stacked like that but then again who knew what eccentrics got up to?
Upon arriving at the window and seeing the Gnome reading the newspaper, Lizbeth turns to her companions.
"He is in the room here, doesn't seem to have noticed us however."
Xin grabs the handle, but the door seems to be locked.
Archimles smashes a window, and after waiting for an alarm to be raised (which doesn't happen), he now has a good, albeit jagged, view of a bedroom.
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The gray thing winces at the sound of the shattered window, then sighs. There is no honor in breaking in... He remains seated and shakes his head.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Wincing as she hears the crash, Lizbeth waits for the gnome in the chair to react to wither Kara or the errant stone. Seeing no such thing and hearing no cry, the Vishkanya strolls over to the door that their newest companion has tried without success.
"Oh well, I guess once you have caused property damage, entry is the next logical step. Step aside dear fellow."
Pulling out an intricate set of tools, Lizbeth unrolls them before selecting one that looks right and inserts it into the lock.
Neither the broken window nor Kara's knock seems to get the gnome's attention.
Lizbeth starts picking the lock, and finds it to be in a rather sorry state. It opens with a slight grinding of gears.
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"Well isn't this strange, no reaction and an open door, it would not be for us to not investigate my friends, our eratwhile colleague Fimbrik may be in danger."
With a flourish, the Vishkanya pushes open the door and returns her tools to her pack. With a stretch she indicates the home.
"Shall we then?"
Lizbeth peeks in. A large sofa sits awkwardly near the entrance, facing toward the center of the room. Sets of chairs and tables are arranged throughout, and statues of grandiose gnomes occupy the corners of the room. A set of stairs at the northern edge of the chamber leads to an unused basement filled with stacked newspapers. A second set of stairs leads up to an unfinished second floor.
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At the mention of possible danger, the gray thing leaps up, snatching his polearm, and summons Shadowfang to follow him into the house behind Vishyanka.
Seeing the dust, he shakes his head and tells Vishyanka that there is clearly no danger, as no one has been here in years.
-Posted with Wayfinder
As Kara reaches the end of the couch, a swirl of smoke and brimstone erupts, leaving behind three large and hostile beetles.
Archimeles barely has time to brush off some shards of glass, before the sound of combat erupts from the other room.
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The wrinkled thing moves into the room and to the left, attacking the beetle there with his polearm. He shouts at Shadowfang to attack the beetle on the right.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Kara hits the nearest beetle and it disappears in a cloud of smoke.
Acting quickly, Lizbeth takes out another of the beetles.
Veilblade moves in and attacks to remaining beetle.
And with that, the combat is over before it really started.