For an instant, Seren feels like her bones have fled this plane to the ethereal. She feels her body collapsing in on itself – as soothing Tien-accented speech fills her ears …
Join us .. Join us … You won’t feel a thing …
Who is it urging this surrender?
Is it the anarchic outsider? Or her own friends?
The young medium rejects the voices. Standing resolutely, she bestows permission on the warrior within to use her body as a weapon.
Limbs and eyes burst in multiple directions as all four strikes hit their intended target!
Chak stalks forward driving his nodachi into the ball-like rear(?) of the chaos beast. It spins rapidly, using the slayer’s blade as an axis, tearing through muscle, sinew and … feathers(!) before familiar tengu features form on the ball’s surface, staring the General in the eyes.
Its beak opens, displaying perfect white teeth: “LEAVE THE SAPPHIRE! YOU KNOW THE PENALTY FOR DISOBEDIENCE!”
A high pitched human female shriek, followed by the familiar sound of a detonating fireball washes over each Pathfinder. However, no flame or burning smell accompanies the auditory illusion.
The broken body of the Chaos Beast implodes likes a collapsed balloon – growing ever tinier until nothing material remains.
At the center of the ornamental pool is a cheap faux-leather satchel. The pack contains 117 pp, six red spinels, a yellow topaz and a fire opal.
The Pathfinders may take a moment to catch their breath, while considering the 8 unopened doors leading from the atrium.
The three in the northern wall reflect their fellows to the south, while two additional doors are situated to the west.
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Seren retains her bones, but still drops to the floor like she's made of jelly the moment the chaos beast vanishes from reality. She sits there, a mess of nasty gouges, and just leaks blood everywhere as her eyes return to normal and her skin takes on a lovely shade of pale green. The cacophony of shouts and sounds leave her wincing, and so do her injuries as she sniffs back a whimper and starts fumbling in her bags for a wand.
"I... uh... I, um... can any of you use this? I think I'm dyin'..." She distracted holds up a cure light wounds wand while staring intently at a spot on the wall. "Mal can't grab it."
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"Unfortunately, my methods of healing are more...infernal in nature. If nobody is able to use your wand, let me know. I certainly have a bit a knack when it comes to Using Magical Devices...though that's hardly the ideal method. But I'm betting our good friend Petrok can be of great assistance with that wand. In the meantime, I'm wondering if there's any way we can ascertain whether the contents of this pack belongs to the household, of if it could be...put to use on behalf of the Society. Let's bring it along and ask Rhyna."
Lathlo makes an assessment based on VC Yuul’s briefing that the cheap backpack and its contents are technically NOT a part of Passad’s household.
He concludes the ancient rule of law known as ‘Finders Keepers’, invoked by Pathfinders all the way back to Durvin Gest, applies in this case.
“I’ll be generous and give you a C- for that effort, Pathfinders.”
Harmid Bestah makes an appearance through the Banquet Hall’s half-open doorway. “There is much room for improvement, I’m sure you will agree.”
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Seren mutters a few incoherent things while the pair of Petrok and Gajutai work to piece her back together. Between the former's natural magic and a good minute of being slapped with her magical wand she seems relatively whole, though her previously worn clothing is now also stained a rusty red. She gives herself one last good shiver and seems to snap back to herself. "I'm good... I think?" She grabs at a spot on her abdomen to check for a hole, then nods in satisfaction at only finding a belly button. "Yeah, I ain't gonna die. Thanks guys, the others were gettin' pretty worried and I ain't gonna hear the end of it. But I ain't joinin' 'em."
She drags herself to her feet with a little wobble, then stumbled over the lip of the fountain and falls in... intentionally of course. The medium starts using the water to at least clean her hands and face off, staining the fountain as she tries to make herself less of a mess. "Hey thanks, Scales. It's a lot easier to do with a good beat, I owe ya for that one. I'm awful at keepin' time in my own head, yeah?"
For a moment she's distracted by giving Bestah a flat look, but after a second it turns into a large grin. "I can't argue it woulda been better without me gettin' beat up. And Betsy, ya might be improvin' too. That was almost nice."
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Petrok *shrugs* and says, what about this one behind Seren and I? One door is as good as the next I suppose? Do you want to check it out first Chak Yuen? Petrok retrieves his crossbow and loads it again. He then moves near the front of the door and cast guidance and then resistance on himself. He leaves a few feet for Chak Yuen to slip in and inspect the door.
*Hmph* That’s DOCTOR Betsy to you, Madam.”
The big man crosses his arms, but doesn’t look displeased ... until he turns to Lathlo.
“Chuckles, has it ever entered your head to use the flat of your blade to deliver subdual damage during combat?”
The scholar holds up a lecturing finger. “If you knock out an opponent, you get the opportunity to interrogate them and learn valuable intelligence. Like say, the location of the Mutani Manual. Understand?”
Dr Bestah wears a kindly smile. “It’s too late for that this time, of course. You all murder-hoboed that poor Chaos Beast right back to the Maelstrom.”
“All I ask, is that you keep my lesson in mind for next time.”
Chak declares each of the eight doors to be unlocked and (as far as he can tell) free of traps, allowing the Pathfinders to investigate each room, beginning with the one behind Petrok and Seren.
A great green Katapeshi carpet lies at the center of the cool tiled floor. While in one corner, an opaque silk curtain partially hides an ornate tub for bathing and a marble chamber pot.
The focus of the southern half is a tall iron safe, black and imposing, angular runic designs painted in gold swirl about its heavy surface. Four statues of roughly worked malachite — winged nagaji forms holding lanterns — flank the safe, two to a side.
A wood panel at the center of the western wall stands strangely askew, and a whiff of sulphur lingers in the air.
Oil paintings in gilded frames hang on the west and south walls, portraits of various Druman notables painted by masters of the art. Comfortable chairs and a table of carved jade sit in the southwest corner.
A thin door with a delicate woven screen occupies the center of the west wall, and to its right, a curtain of filmy red silk covers another doorway.
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"As if that hideous creature could've told us where the manual might be, my good doctor." Lathlo does his best to make that last word sound as insulting as possible. "Could you make yourself useful and tell us if there's any way to easily discern the Mutani Manual? Does it have a particular magical dweomer that our more magically inclined compatriots might use to quickly spot among the shelves? Or at the very least, are there any particular characteristics that would make it easier to spot--you did see the thing. Describe it for us..."
“It could have … Did you notice how well it was across current events? Like the routine of the serving staff and the theft of the sapphire from the damaged statue?”
Bestah shakes his head sadly. “If only you had one of the foremost language experts on Golarion to help you translate … OH, WAIT. You DO! ME!!!”
“The tome we are after is written in Iblydosian, has a pair of clasped hands on the cover and contains a number of drawings of unarmed combat techniques.”
He looks quizzically at Lathlo. “Surely even you lot had enough brains to ask your Venture-Captain for a description? Or were you expecting me to do that job for you too?”
“I didn’t actually get a chance to cast the detect magic cantrip -- seeing how I was tied up and all. Sorry.”
The academic *shrugs* “Though it could just be an ordinary text – displaying no dweomers at all.”
He begins moving towards the study. “I may deign to let you know once I’ve had the chance to examine it.”
Various keepsakes and tokens are scattered across the study desk: a marble figurine of a mounted knight fighting a dragon, a crystal globe within which floats a single blue-green feather, and a stylized gold letter opener encrusted with semiprecious gems, along with mundane business papers.
Examination of the wooden panel in the western wall reveals that it was once a secret door, discovered and left open in recent times. The smell emanates from behind this "secret" door.
The 6-foot-tall safe of Tian design has two heavy locking mechanisms on its heavy iron door.
Chak can establish the room, the two locks, and the door attached to the safe, appear to be free of traps.
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Seren splashes out of the fountain and trails in near the back of the group, a bit more hesitant than her previously bold bouncing ahead without proper consideration for things like traps and ambushes. This isn't likely to last very long, so the group should take advantage as they can. The medium wanders over near the globe with the feather in it, 'oh'ing' softly to herself as she drips onto the carpet. "No Wynn, we can only look at it. It's the rules."
When Bestah starts ranting again debates kicking him in the shins, but holds back. "Thanks Doc Betsy, yer gonna be a big ol' help. If you do good I'll let ya join the Scarab Sages and you can read lotsa books!" She shuffles over to Petrok and cups a hand over her mouth for a stage whisper. "I thought it was Betsy, but it smells like someone farted behind that door. We gotta check it so they don't surprise us!"
Chak finds bypassing both locks quite easy . However, the second lock is definitely of higher quality than the first.
Inside the heavy, double-locked iron door is a delicate mesh door of stylized interwoven brass filigree.
“Thanks Doc Betsy, yer gonna be a big ol' help.”
“I know.”
Eyes to the heavens, he sighs “Bodily function humor? Really?”
“Don’t you think we’ve wasted enough time? Or am I the only one who wants to find the book and get out of here?”
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As the group is occupied with opening the locks, the skald gazes around at the treasures amasses in the collector's study.
He stops to marvel at the statues. "Wow, those are sentinel statues traditionally used to decorate the approaches to tombs of Naga matriarchs. Back in Nagajor. I have never been around one of these, but the tribal elders tell fascinating tales of Naga."
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"Yes, really. It don't matter if it's high class so long as it's funny." She wanders away from the safe despite Chak's successes, just in case he stops having them, and instead stands near Gajutai to look at the statues. Her eyes narrow in consideration, then she looks at the skald and they narrow further. "I thought you -was- a Naga, Scales." He certainly looked like it to her. Out of nowhere she giggles for several heartbeats while waiting for Gajutai to respond.
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Gajutai gasps. "Oh no-no-no-no, I am a nagaji, not a naga. My ancestors were created by the True Nagas as a servitor race, in their image. Some of our uneducated brethren still reveres the creators as living gods, but my tribe, the Spellbreakers, has left the Nagajor specifically to try and live free from the old legends."
"It don't matter … so long as it's funny."
“Concur.” Dr Bestah gives Seren a pitying look.
"The good doctor is right ..."
“Of course I’m right! Chuckles, there’s really no need to add that redundancy.”
"In future, why don’t we assume that everyone understands that’s the case?"
“The Spellbreakers … left the Nagajor specifically to try and live free from the old legends.”
“A worthy ambition.”
The academic nods his approval. “As a Pathfinder agent you must be grateful to be free of such arrogant swine.”
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"Maybe someone should check the inside of the safe for magic now that the outer door is open. Maybe that brass is there to blast a would-be thief with electricity or something?"
Petrok nods his head and says, Yep right..I'll check!
Petrok cast detect magic at the brass on the safe. When he is through with his inspection, Petrok cast guidance on Chak Yuen.
Chak works his magic and you hear a *double-click* as two steel pins are driven home somewhere beneath your feet, preventing the study floor from falling away.
It’s then a simple matter for Chak to slap a bass handle, opening the inner gate and revealing the contents of the safe, which include:
• Three stubby bars of platinum
• A ledger of Passad’s business dealings in nearby Qadira
• Four signed withdrawal slips, drawn on a Katapesh city bank
• A set of dapper academic robes, doofy hat, signet ring and a wayfinder engraved with the initials H.B.
“Anything?” Dr Bestah asks impatiently from the safety of the atrium doorway.
“Where to now?”
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When the others ignore the contents of the safe, Seren sneaks over and starts eyeballing the collection. Eventually she pops her head back out with the doofy hat on and the wayfinder in hand. "Hey, we know anybody with the initials HB? I dun think this looks too much like Passad's stuff, yeah?" She's managed to cram the hat over top of the nightcap she's been wearing since this whole escapade started.
"Wynn says there's a nice ring and some robes in there, too. But we probably shouldn't take all this stuff if it's his, cause we'll get in trouble." When the party starts getting ready to raid the next room she slides over closer to the secret door with her weapons ready, but very much not at the front of the group... for safety.
“My ring! You lot are good for something after all.”
Dr Bestah charges courageously towards the safe at Seren’s announcement.
He expels a gleeful *cry* at the discovery of his clothes and begins shucking his borrowed cold weather outfit, leaving the items scattered over the study floor for Lathlo’s convenience.
Eventually she pops her head back out with the doofy hat on.
“Suits you.” Bestah nods, before snatching the wayfinder out of her hands.
☠ ☠ ☠
Behind the ajar secret door, this luxurious salon lined with long couches and comfortable chairs looks like it serves as some kind of ‘Panic Room’ – an emergency retreat for the residents in the event of a mansion invasion.
The west wall is lined with a large cupboard and bookcase, while a lifelike bearskin rug covers much of the tiled floor. The source of the sulphur stench wafting through the manor is lying on the floor: a battered, vaguely humanoid figure of gears and metal, with malodorous yellow-gray fumes seeping from cracks in its motionless form.
A large hole about eight feet in diameter mars the north wall, as though something exploded from behind the wall into the Panic Room. Sharp bits of metal are embedded in the walls and furniture. The bookcase has also been rummaged through roughly, and a dozen books lie scattered on the floor.
Clumps of curly dark hair are lodged in the clenched fists of the broken construct.
The books present are trashy novels and puzzle books. There is no sign of anything matching the description of the Mutani Manual.
Nothing else in the room registers as magic.
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Lathlo sweeps his professional gaze over the mess inside the panic room.
"Clearly, there was a struggle inside this room. Note the curly brown hair in the clenched fist of the demolished construct. Clearly, the Aspis agents have already found this room, defeated its guardian and claimed whatever valuables could be found. I fear we may already be too late to recover the Manual. We must hurry, in case they are still on the grounds." Lathlo gathers up the hair, then quickly leads the way back to the door and opening in the master bedroom. He moves to the opening first.
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Seren gives Bestah a grin at the comment, then casually brushes out a wrinkle in his robes before leaping up into the air to slap the hat onto the man's head. She studies him a moment, one hand holding her chin. "I think so too, he needs to keep it tilted a bit for style." Nodding to herself she wanders after the rest of the party into the robot room.
She gives the pile of machinery several experimental pokes with her sword, and when it doesn't move she chases off after Laltho back into the main atrium and towards the master bedroom. "Hey farts. What do we do if they have the book? Beat'em silly or ask nicely first? They might not have it anyways, yeah? That didn't look like a real library and we were the ones what got in the safe."
The party abandons the Study and moves through the Atrium to the palatial bedchamber of Temel Passad and his wife. The dresser and armoires are stuffed with extravagantly expensive items of clothing, linens, and other personal belongings. A velvet curtain hides a large bathroom dominated by an octagonal bath built into the marble floor.
A screened door leads to what must be the dressing room of the lady of the Manor. A magnificent rug, similar in design to the thick carpet in the master bedroom, covers most of the marble floor of this room.
This boudoir is lined with eleven slender marble mannequins, each attired in luxurious clothing. A twelfth dummy has toppled to the floor adjacent to a silk modesty screen.
Closer examination shows this is not a mannequin at all. Rather it is the burnt and battered body of a pudgy, scraggly bearded Garundi man. He still wears the studded leather armor he died in. A broken scimitar, as well as a shortbow and quiver containing 20 black-feathered arrows lie beside him.
To the south, a padded chair lined with white satin sits before a vanity table of carob wood. Atop the vanity are a number of glass bottles and vials. An enormous mirror is mounted on the south wall.
While there are no books present in the boudoir, bathroom or bedchamber, tripping a catch behind the mirror causes a door to yawn open in the southern wall of the Master Bedroom.
Dr Bestah comments, "Wench spends more on stupid clothes she'll never wear than I make in a year!"
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Following Lathlo and Doctor Bestah into the bedchamber and the boudoir, Gajutai casts the Detect Magic cantrip. After looking at the corpse for a couple of seconds, he shrugs. "Well, the armor is definitely magical, but I can't quite tell what the enchantment was. It didn't do him much good, anyways-ss..."
He joins the rest of the group in searching through the chamber and eventually stumbles at the latch hidden behind the mirror. "Hmmm... Wonder what that does?", he murmurs as he flips the latch and a door yawns open in the southern wall of the Master Bedroom.
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Does someone want to strip the body of its valuables while the rest of us search for a secret entrance? There must be a rear door around here somewhere. By my reckoning, it's probably along one of these inner walls--there seems to be a gap between the bedroom and the study...I'll start in the atrium."
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”I can check if he has anythin’ to borrow. Anyone know who this was? If ya do or he’s got his name on his underwear I can try gettin’ his ghost to chat with us!”. While the perceptive members of the group are discovering hidden latches and doors Seren has already started taking all the goods off the dead man, giving his body a pat on the shoulder in apology and making certain his eyes are closed so it’s not as creepy.
She makes certain to grab all the gems Gajutai noticed along with the armor. ”Hey, not for any particular reason... but does anyone see any perfume in all that girly stuff?”
Seren’s search of the dead thief’s clothes uncovers a faded clothing label, bearing the name Corlis M. Maubry (or possibly Balless N. Tawdry?) in black ink.
After Chak has declared it free of traps and everyone is ready, Gajutai can lead the group through the doorway he opened into the chamber beyond …
This serene library features three great bookcases eight feet tall running the length of the room, stuffed chairs and a sofa, thick-piled carpets with a subtle design, and three elaborately sculpted marble lecterns in an eastern alcove. Heavy double doors occupy the west wall, crafted from darkly stained oak with gold fixtures. A huge crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling twenty feet above and glows with magical light.
The center and southernmost lecterns both display first edition tomes, entitled On the Symphony Of Elysian Heart by Lila Andrea Salomé and Geography and Wildlife of the Mwangi Expanse by Rogar "Bronze" Bogslagsun. Both volumes are exquisitely bound and richly illuminated.
The northernmost lectern is empty, though the dusty outline of the ghost of an opened volume is plainly visible.
“That outline matches the dimensions of the Mutani Manual.” Bestah remarks sourly.
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As the others shuffle out of the room and Seren gathers up their loot she spends a moment creeping over to the dresser. She glances over her shoulder and then back to the bottle several times with a torn look on her face. Finally she growls loudly and throws her hands up in the air. "I know I made a stupid promise to the boss! I ain't gettin' in trouble for it, guys!" Then she stomps out of the boudoir without taking the bottle and grumbling to herselves about stupid orders saying stupid different things.
When she reaches the library she waves around some of the thief's clothing. "Hey guys, if you want to interrogate the dead guy fast, I can try it."
"We prolly oughta search this room anyways in case the book just got hidden on a shelf somewhere, if Betsy is right that it was on that skinny table before... if I was gonna tell a buncha people to come get it, I wouldn't leave it out in the open where they don't even gotta read to find it." She starts scanning the library herself with an exaggerated squinty expression to prove her point.
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Seeing that his comrades have already prepared for surprises Petrok only revives his resistance and guidance spells and helps Lathlo search the room. I'll help you search Lathlo. The soft spoke half orc says. Just before he starts pouring over the library with Lathlo he does say to Saren, Little one...you mentioned you may be able to talk to the unfortunate man in the other room, if his spirit still lingers. Could you do that for us now? While we search this room? He might know who took the tomb. You and your friends would be heroes! Petrok does this as much to keep the girl out of harms way should a trap go off in the Library...as much as trying to find out what the dead man knew.
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While Chak puts a few scrolls to use, Lathlo attempts to put a few of his more recalcitrant wands to use:
Then Lathlo gratefully accepts Petrok's aid in searching the library with a gracious bow. They begin with the northernmost lectern, then the other 2 lecterns. If that turns up nothing, then the rest of the room
"On the Symphony Of Elysian Heart by Lila Andrea Salomé and Geography and Wildlife of the Mwangi Expanse by Rogar "Bronze" Bogslagsun.