Opening the folder the dwarf gives you the information within it “Prior to the founding of our lodge, the Pathfinder Society had few contacts and fewer resources here in Magnimar. One of our best was an alchemist and a sage name Darga Cranstone. Cranstone kept a small lab in Ordellia, performing specialized research using rare herbs that grow wild in the Mushfens. Yesterday, word from Absalom arrived that several years ago, our organization paid the alchemist an advance of over a three thousand crowns for some research." the dwarf grumbles as he moves through some leaflets.
"Several months later, Cranstone had only turned over half her findings, and eventually failed to complete the commission. Then for a short while, the Society lost all contact with her. Just days before the Decemvirate sent a debt collector to hunt down Darga, her apprentice suddenly sent word that his mistress was still working on the project. This kept on for several seasons, with the apprentice’s notes becoming more infrequent, until they simply petered off. While the sum was fairly significant, other matters put recouping the lost sum on hold, and after a few years, it was eventually forgotten. Now that we have again been reminded of this debt, I need you to go to Cranstone’s tower and collect the fee she owes us, with interest.”
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Nodding as he wiser companions press the dwarf for more information, Edgar pipes up. "So...how much should we be collecting? If there's no one home, should we just bring back everything we can carry?"
"Oh! On the off chance he is there...and alive...and refuses to pay or doesn't have the funds...What would you prefer we do in that scenario?"
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Daniel puts his hand on Edgar’s non-bird shoulder, “that’s easy friend, they get brought back and will owe the society a great debt. We don’t kill just because someone didn’t fulfill a promise... plus the dead don’t exactly have a way of earning to pay off a debt.”
He looks up at the dwarf, ”but that won’t be an option until we exhaust every other venue at getting the society’s investment back.”
"Tha be a good poin' Redgar, can't go collectin a debt without havin the proper papers." The Dwarf pulls out a contract some 30 pages longs, single spaced, from the folder and he hands it to you. "Now ya see this is quite long bu' legally bind'n."
Looking to Odo the dwarf says "We only assume that she may 'av passed on. No one has seen or heard from her or her apprentice in some time. The Locals talk about it being huanted day in and day out, the Magnimaran's like to gossip if you did na notice."
"Edgar, ya mus' be a money man I'm guessin. Down tot he brass tax were looking at, hmm... with interest arond 4,000 is the owance ta us. If Cranstone is alive and refusing ta pay remind her of her obligations and that contract there will, surely tha 'll scare her in ta payin. No one wants to go against the law 'round here. Right you are Daniel, althoguh it seems Mrs. Heidmarch does not care if you kill she does have some sensability."
"Alright be off with ye and get to Cranstones tower."
"Nah don't be going randomly breaking legs. Protect yourself as much as you can though." the dwarf looks the Fighter over raising an eyebrow.
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Making your way through Magnimar you arrive at Cranstone’s rundown tower to find it long abandoned. The doors and windows have been boarded up and dozens of old, faded notices plastered on the door warn trespassers to keep out and that the property has been seized by the lord mayor’s office. Still, it appears like a long time has passed since anyone from the government has paid the premises a visit. The boards pry off easily, allowing access to the ground floor. Long looted of all valuables, it contains nothing but rubbish and rats. A rickety wooden staircase curls about the exterior wall leading a good 60 feet
upward to a second floor.
Inside the main laboratory you see the dead body of a scholarly type lying on the floor .
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Anduris looks about the room doing his best impression of an experienced investigator. He takes in the entire room as he slowly approaches the dead body. He thinks he can picture what had happened to the poor soul laying on the ground. He imagines some great struggle or maybe treachery lurking from the shadows praying on the unweary...his ponderings however come to an abrupt end as he notices he has stepped on the dead mans hand. "Eh? Good thing this ones dead or that surely would'a hurt. So what ya figure? What ya think got'im?"
While Odo makes his way across the room to the dead body he steps down on a section of the floor board and hears a loud *Creak* and it seems the floor board is loose. Prying it up he finds a small locked coffer sitting in a recessed compartment.
Daniel checks the body of the late Alcehmist Darga Crantsone and finds that she had passed of semi natural causes. having spent years around caustic fumes and strange chemicals had taken its toll on her body where she died on the spot. You can only guess she had been working on the same research the Society had commisioned her to do.
Looking through her body and her immediate area Daniel finds nothing of note excdept for a few buttons and pocket lint; and is that unwrapped hard candies stuck to her pocket.
Redgar seeing that the inspection of the alchemist's body is deftly handled by Daniel he looks about the room. While snooping around, unlike Odo, Redgar steps down hard on another section of the floor and his foot breaks throguh the floorboards and he sees another small coffer just like Odo's but this one is much heavier than the first.
As the remaining members of the party look about the room seeing if they are able to locate anything. Suddenly a gut wrethcing scream erupts from the doorway as you see an incorporeal creature floating there wild eye'd "LEAVE NOW!" it screams in a feminine voice and proceeds to become aggresive towards you.
The creature flys forward and swips at Redgar.
A cold chill races up Redgar's arm but he pulls back just in time as the hand nearly touches him
???
Odo
Daniel
Anduris
Redgar
B.C.
Joaquin
Edgar
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Daniel pulls his bow and fires a single magical arrow at the fiend. "Yeah! What he said!"
for
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Joaquin reacts to the appearance of the ghostly form. Seeing that it struck Odo, he does what he has been trained to do for years, attack the enemy!
He moves to the form and swings his bastard sword, hoping that it will do something to prevent the otherworldly being from harming the Taldan.
He is using Power Attack.
Glowing briefing, Allen taps Redgar with a wing. "Let Pharasma guide you." he mumbles.
Redgar thinking he is in the clear as he pulled away takes a quick breath in readying to give his own attack when he feels a shooting pain rise through his arm and take hold of his body.
The energy wraps itself around your heart a squeezes tightly.
Odo doing what a paladin does best curses the creature realizing it is a apparition of some kind but he is not sure quite what it is. Slashing out with his Scimitar calling upon the the Everlight to help keep this dead thing at bay lands a solid hit. It screams out in pain as the Dawnflowers light burns it.
Daniel pulls his bow back letting forth a bolt of ghostly death sail through the air hitting the ghost cleanly in the chest. Another wail escapes its mouth as it is dealt further harm by the pathfinders. B.C. Sticks close to Daniel’s side.
Anduris thinking on his feet and making sure that Mr. Rodrigo is able to hit his target provides a little blessing on the weapon granting it greater power.
Joaquin seeing his blade rimmed in a greenish light dripping from it some might even think the blade is drooling with excitement of biting into an undead creature shortly. Swinging with his Bastard sword he rends the spirit in two his blade glowing bright from delite is has at vanquishing an undead threat.
The Body of the Wraith begins to dissipate in the air as it vanishes into nothingness.
You now are in the empty tower again two lock coffers of simple design now sit on the table waiting to be opened. No other items of significance are in the room. You can hear the clock town in town chime showing that you have just about 30 minutes left until the auction starts.
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Joaquin stands there wide-eyed that his sword was able to destroy the undead being so easily. Privately, he is a bit concerned about the feeling he got from the weapon in that it felt like it was a living thing feeding on the undead when he struck it. He looks at the weapon warily as if he isn't sure it the spell has dissipated.
"Friend Anduris, that was quick thinking on your part to ensorcel my blade. Uh, just what exactly did you ensorcel it to do? It didn't make my sword come to life, did it?"
He then whispers to Anduris, "It's gone, right? It's safe to put the sword in the scabbard now?"
The group can clearly see Joaquin is a bit unnerved by what took place.
Looking over the coffers with his knowledge in their construction. Redgar tells everyone that they seem pretty sturdy and might last many more years. Nothing out of the ordinary in the construction.
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Daniel looks in awe as his companions unleash holy (and other) wrath upon the being, well I guess they know exactly how to handle these things, that's good. Last ghost I dealt with had me so backwards I couldn't even see my allies in front of me...
He looks warily at the boxes, "the last chest we had was trapped, we better be careful with these."
He carefully steps away from the boxes and back over to the corpse, "anyone know enough about ghosts to know how to put the spirit to rest? And if we already took care of that, we should at least bury this poor soul."
With Edgar's help your are easily able to perform last rights for the befallen alchemist. Her body, you respectfully wrap and take out side and proceed to request a collect of her physical from.
The coffers still sit upon the table untouched as Daniel shy's away from them warning of traps and assists Edgar in completing the last rights for Draga.
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"Aye well done there Rodrigo. Yer a fine swordsman. Ah'might bit better then me that's fer sure." Anduris responds distractedly as he eyes the coffer seeing what he can see.
and he examines for some time to try to glean any psychic impressions that may have been left behind.
At 2nd level, an occultist learns how to read information from items he examines.
Examining an item in this way requires him to spend 1 minute handling the item. If the item is a magic item, the occultist learns its properties and command word as if he had successfully examined the item using detect magic and succeeded at a Spellcraft check. This ability does not reveal whether the item is cursed unless the occultist’s class level is equal to or greater than the caster level of the item. If the item has any historical significance, the occultist learns one piece of information about its past (as determined by the GM). Finally, if the item was last used no longer than 1 day ago per the occultist’s class level, the occultist learns one piece of information about the last creature to use the item. This information might be a glimpse of the creature’s appearance, a brief vision of what it saw while using the item, or perhaps its emotional state when it last used the item. The GM determines what information is gained in this way. This functions like the psychometry occult skill unlock, but doesn’t require a skill check and can be used at will.
As Edgar meticulously looks over the coffers for any signs of magic and he finds none at all save the emanations from the parties weapons and gear.
Opening the first and lighter coffer with no problem the sum of 1000 GP can be found on the inside. Anduris on the other hand feels an immense emotion of greed and paranoia set in as he examines the heavier coffer. Telling the group everyone looks to the coffer...
Redgar and Anduris notice that the lock system is rigged to spring a trap once the heavier coffer is unlocked.
Anduris pulls out a few loose chunks of the coffer allowing access to the greater mechanism. A simple twist and out slides a small vial of dust. Although it doesn't look like much he can presume based off the traps design that anyone within 10 feet would have been caught in a dust cloud of poison.
He also unlocks the coffer too, inside is the sum of 3000 crowns.
You bring the gold back to the dwarf from before and he seems happy with your debt collecting abilities. "And you still have time to spare. How bout you try your hand at one of these."
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"I think either would be a worthy challenge for our efforts. To my eye, Anduris and Edgar are both knowledgeable in scholarship and may be able to understand Dr. Landis's theories of the key's origin. A good discussion may loosen his tongue on his backers.
But then, the Duchesses might respond to a bit of pressure if their wealth is truly stolen. They would have much to lose if the authorities were to get involved." Odo suggests.
"I will do what I can to negotiate these waters, but being as small as I am, not that many take my 'leaning on them' seriously."
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With a nod, Edgar replies. "I wouldn't mind discussing the Key's origins, but you are correct. I'm more scholarly in such endeavors than I am understanding of the nuances in such words."
Considering the two tasks, he looks to each of those assembled. "I get the feeling we may be better suited for the investigation of the gold." Chuckling, he adds "At least if we find it is in fact stolen, Joaquin could negotiate with the pointy end as Odo and Daniel explains her choices to her."
"Alright now for some of the more boring missions, am I right Joaquin?" looking to the mustachioed Fighter he cough "Ahem, hem hem. There were two women at the pre-auction who paid their deposit in Minkaian coins which, according to our sources, may have been stolen during a recent caravan raid. If such is the case, the duo no doubt have dubious intentions. The women call themselves the Duchesses and they likely have ties to one of Magnimar’s criminal organizations; I suspect the Rushlight Society." the dwarf has a stern look on his face as he reads through the dossier.
"Still, it is their finances and not their intentions that most concern us. Some of our more reliable street contacts informed me that the two women were last seen entering the home of a local merchant named Windun Landers." Pausing he hands you a sheet of paper to write on "That's L-a-n-d-e-r-s. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Landers has a wrought iron rushlight mounted on his door casing. Head to the man’s residence, and see if you can’t figure out how much money these “Duchesses” have. If all is as I suspect, they don’t have enough to bid competitively. I’m also near certain they’re using stolen funds, so leave whatever gold you find. I don’t want us bidding with illegally gotten coin—that’ll create more problems for us than it will solve. Lastly, whatever you happen to find, do not involve the authorities. We cannot risk the courts subpoenaing your testimony during the auction.” He hands you another sheet of paper with Lander's Address on it you might still have enough time to investigate before the auction starts.