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"Okay, year before the founding of the Pathfinder Society. Year before... year before..."
The tengu is exceedingly careful across the bridge using the rope, and then tries to pound her head for any information that would be known locally about the founding of the Society, hoping that perhaps someone has a better grasp of history than she does (that is, to say, none).
After searching in the area with the oldest vintages, Wazzari thinks she remembers the year the Pathfinder Society was founded. She tries to extract the bottle of the same year, but the wine rack slides back into a short stone tunnel that leads into a hidden room.
A sturdy silver chain jutting from the ceiling ends in a glowing orb that radiates yellow light across the rectangular room. A simple desk of polished wood, stacked with documents and scattered notes, shelters a pair of wooden chests against the south wall. A series of cracks along the eastern and western walls form makeshift entrances into exposed caverns.
The illumination is enough to brighten the room but leaves the connecting tunnels dark.
As the Pathfinders cautiously enter the room, a draft moves with them, as if the room had not been entered in many years. Abruptly, the lights dim as a hundred or more bats launch into the air, swirling toward the open portal.
Round 1 Bold may act
Boram
Wizziri
Bats!
Crowe
Miranda
Yarriki
The swarming bats move toward the light and fresh air, having been disrupted by the interlopers in their lair.
The hundred bats quickly become a thousand as more come out of the tunnels, and they circle relentlessly around Crowe, many of them tearing into the bloodrager with their tiny, razor-sharp teeth.
Round 1 Bold may act
Boram
Wizziri
Bats!
Crowe
Miranda
Yarriki
Crowe's flask explodes at close-range, dissipating many of the bats as acid sprays them. Quite a few lie twitching on the floor. Miranda's flask misses, though some of the acid and glass do some damage.
The others contemplate how they could help.
Buzz lands and looks at the wine, puzzled why he can't join his good friend Yarricki
Though diminished substantially, the bats continue to circle and bite the Pathfinders, now targeting both Crowe and Miranda.
Round 1 Bold may act
Boram
Wizziri
Bats!
Crowe
Miranda
Yarriki
Once the group combines their firepower, the bats either die or disperse back into the caves, leaving Crowe and Miranda bleeding.
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"Please, use my wand instead, dear." Miranda offers, drawing her personal wand of healing and handing it to the druid. "Thank you, although if I hadn't become so excited I wouldn't have needed any healing."
"I suppose after all that excitement, we should take a long look around." The mesmerist suggests now that some of her composure has returned. Following her own advice, she then begins to examine the room.
With the creatures defeated, the group can properly examine the desk. It contains several files that have obviously not been accessed in some time. The papers chronicle the personal exploits of Selmius Foster, a
famous Pathfinder whose name each Pathfinder recognizes from their training as agents or from past conversations.
Most of Foster’s more infamous adventures appear here in varying amounts of detail, but it is evident there is another investigation he had been pursuing before he died: the lost records of a Society agent named Eylysia. In particular, there are two notes among the other documents which seem of import.
poorly. In this trove I have left my considerable findings, which I hope will
be of use to our growing Society. While most of this information will no doubt
already be in the hands of fellow Society members, there is a personal matter
which I have left contained within.
Events over the past decade have led me to suspect a fellow agent of hoarding
her knowledge and not submitting it for review. This woman_a surprisingly
sensible gnome by the name of Eylysia_has partaken of almost as many missions
as I, yet she reports only a third of what I have brought to light. In order
to ensure knowledge is not concealed, I have begun an investigation into Eylysia
and her activities here in Absalom, hoping to find her hidden repository of
stored knowledge. Thus far, I have come across two promising leads.
The first is Eylysia’s contact with a well-known stonemason by the name of
Arkath. I had the displeasure of meeting this fellow in his dying days, when
he promised to take any secrets he held to his grave. He was interred in a
mausoleum in the Ivy District weeks after our encounter, though I still believe
there is more to his connection with Eylysia.
Another lead is Eylysia’s friendship with a member of the Arcanamirium, a
local wizard’s guild. The fellow is a gnome by the name of Fimbrik. All of my
attempts to speak with him have failed, though I have noted his home address
in my files for follow-up.
It is my sincere hope that I am able to return to discover what Eylysia has
hidden, but should I not, I entrust this to my assistant Adolphus or any brave
Society agents who come across my unfinished work.
_Selmius Foster
Adolphus's note:
investigation into Eylysia's activities, though rece nt deve lopme nts mean my time in Absalom is short.
My initial follow-up of Foster's investigation into Arkath involved hiring several diviners to discern the
veracity of Se lmius's leads. It appears the stonemason was quite honest with my me ntor; there is some
key clue buried with him in his mausoleum.
I have watched Eylysia for many months since my return, and I have caught her making additions to
the Wall of Names-the memorial built in honor of my departed me ntor. She has added three names, none
of w hich are true Pathfinders and are like ly worth investigating. T heir names are:
~ Doulgonlir Caskmail
~ Hollis 'Evil Grin' T horne
~ Karina Clamp
Eve nts are in motion that will soon take me to Quantium, after w hich I will be unable to conclude this
investigation. I leave this hidde n under the Wounded Wisp, in hopes that one day I might return, or that the
Society e ndures its curre nt woes and a future ge neration of age nts can take up this cause.
-Adolphus
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"Yes, that would be fine, thank you." Miranda replies to Yarricki's suggestion to hold her wand for the time being.
She then looks over notes with some curiosity, "If this is the test I believe it is, we should investigate these places mentioned in the note to see if we can get to the bottom of this Eylysia woman's activities. If I'm reading this right those are the mausoleum, the gnome's house, and the Wall of Names. Since none of those places seem particularly suited for my talents, I don't have a preference on where we start. I would say the mausoleum since it's first on the list."
When the Pathfinders return to the corner, it is still raining, but Drang is nowhere to be seen.
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"Hey, what do you think about to explore the place where we found this notes first, huh? He sent us there for a reason. We can't just leave that place without investigate its entire space. Remember the three duties? EXPLORE, cooperate and report. Let's do our job."
With that been said, Crowe returns to the place where they found the notes to explore the local.
Details left by Selmius Foster indicate the location of Arkath’s burial site: a plot of land in Eastgate operated by the local temple of Sarenrae. A fence surrounds the necropolis grounds, and although members of the faith and city guards routinely patrol the property, it is still legal to enter the grounds to respect the departed.
Looking around, the group determines that Arkath’s crypt is the northernmost part of the burial site.
While the gates into the necropolis are left open to those paying their respects, the doors of the mausoleums are sealed with sturdy stone slabs.
The rain has let up a bit, and now seems a steady drizzle. A single figure in a long cloak patrols the grounds in the distance.
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Crowe stops and listen Wazziri and Miranda's words. "You're right", he says, "let's check this damned mausoleum".
Once at mausoleum and as long as he noticed the strange figure at distance, the bloodrager screams to him: "HEY YOU! WHO ARE YOU?! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!".
He starts to walk in the figure's direction. If the stranger tries to flee, Crowe will follow him running.
As Miranda feared, the figure in the long cloak proves to be a guard. She is a human female with breastplate armor, a buckler, and a heavy mace underneath her dark gray wool cloak, which is pulled up over her head to protect her from the rain. She draws her heavy mace as she approaches.
She speaks with barely restrained hostility. "What do think you're doing?!" she yells at Crowe, along with the others. "This place is under Sarenrae's protection and is a place of reverence. Now turn around and get your loud mouth outta here!"
While speaking with the cleric, you can detect patterns
in her speech that are uncharacteristically aggressive
for a servant of the Dawnflower.
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"Woah... woah. You IDIOT!" The tengu lets out another sigh and covers her beak with her palm.
"Honest, we can't seem to go anywhere without this happening wouldjabelieve we're coming in to pay respects to someone here and ah, don't mean to be causing any trouble do you think you could help out maybe please?"