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Alarm bells blare throughout the Pathfinder Society's Grand Lodge as chaos reigns in one of the vaults below. The PCs must venture into the vaults to put a stop to the mysterious incident. They quickly learn, however, that what has happened in the Grand Lodge is almost certainly not an isolated event. It falls to the PCs to follow this disruption's trail, a mission that puts them on a collision course with mysterious forces that wish to unleash horrors from beyond reality upon Golarion.
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What's this noise again? Something happen to the Museum or the Aspis are attacking again the grand lodge?
Asks a young woman with raven hairs and pale skin. She has a holy symbol of Pharasma around her neck and wears black and gray clothes, but clearly well designed and cut at the latest of fashion.
I'm Tatiana by the way.
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A suit of Dwarf sized full plate with the visor down clanks his way into the room with the others "What in the blazes is goin' on?" He stops to lift the visor and have a look around the room. An older Dwarven man with a balding head and salt and pepper beard looks around at the others, pauses on a couple faces he recognizes.
"Hey I know you..." looking straight at Argenta and Gwen, and giving Hera a side-eye "And ye brought the bird too..." He flips the bird the bird with a grin then introduces himself to the others, making his way around the room. He removes his gauntlet and offers up a hearty handshake to everyone minus the owl.
"I'm Ironshanks Magee at yer service. Keep behind the wall of steel and watch yer toes n we'll make out in this just fine!" He hoots, speaking as if the only adult in a room of fresh neophyte recruits.
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A tall half orc with an axe moves into the room. "I heard an alarm what's going on?"
A tall, dark haired woman in dark orange and yellow robes wanders into the Hall and looks around. She cocks her heard to one side and listens, Is that an alarm I can hear, is something up I wonder she muses, amost to herself. Oh well, if we are needed I am sure someone will call on us.
Loud wheezing can be heard as a rather skinny half orc rushes into the room, his weapon in hand.
"What is going on." he breathes out harshly as he seems to have some trouble catching his breath.
"Is this a drill?"
Over the Gwen recognizes the detailing on the approaching bearded armor, but not any of the others. She's a librarian. She's supposed to be down here, but who are these people and why are they here? Given their looks she could easily guess they were Society members. She looks them over once more. Geez, the next thing you know the Decemvirate will be letting goblins in.
"YES! IT IS AN ALARM! I DON'T KNOW WHY IT WAS SOUNDED! I'M GWEN, ONE OF THE LIBRARIANS. THIS IS HERA!" Then, in the spirit of inquiry she shouts "WHO ARE YOU!?" at the others.
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Audible alarm spells fill the Grand Lodge with shrill chimes, as apprentice Pathfinders hustle through the ground floor locking doors
and casting protective spells. Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin rounds the corner in a visibly agitated state, with Paracountess Zarta Dralneen impatiently dogging at his heels. “Ambrus, this kind of situation is exactly why I founded the Dark Archive in the first place. Give me and my agents a chance to…”
“A chance to what, Zarta? Tinker around with unstudied artifacts while Pathfinders’ lives might be at risk?[b]” Valsin’s voice booms curtly over the alarms. As if startled by the harsh sound of his voice, Valsin flinches and quickly gains his composure. “[b]I’m sorry, Zarta. I understand your point; I just can’t think about it right now while something is happening inside our very walls. If you can marshal a team to put a lid on this debacle, I’m sure the Decemvirate will give you some more rope. Just be careful you don’t wind up hanging yourself with it.”
As Valsin stalks down the corridor checking to see if the doors are secured, Zarta turns, a sly smirk spreading across her face. “That’s the closest I’ve gotten to a ‘yes’ in months. Of course, now we have to prove that we can handle emergencies like this in a pinch. Come along then. I’ll explain on the way.”
Zarta rushes down a flight of spiral stairs, drawing a crooked wand from the folds of her dress. “As you may know, the Dark Archive has been gathering, cataloging, and reinforcing magical wards over all manner of dangerous or mysterious items, some of which we store in these underground vaults. Apparently one of the items has activated and malfunctioned. The good news is that our alarm system and lockdown procedure ran swimmingly; the bad news is that now we have a bizarre magical device wreaking havoc in our basement. That is where you come in.”
Zarta stops outside a stone door with sickly yellow roots lazily snaking between its edges. “This is the vault. All we know is that whatever is inside is animating the other devices stored in here, and spewing plant-like matter throughout the room. The plants aren’t any sort I’ve seen before, so I would recommend caution. I’ve brought a wand that I should be able to use to repel the flora. You all take care of the animated items and disarm whatever’s causing this situation, preferably without damaging it until we can learn more. Understood?”
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Zarta rushes down a flight of spiral stairs, drawing a crooked wand from the folds of her dress. “As you may know, the Dark Archive has been gathering, cataloging, and reinforcing magical wards over all manner of dangerous or mysterious items, some of which we store in these underground vaults. Apparently one of the items has activated and malfunctioned. The good news is that our and lockdown procedure ran swimmingly....”
"YES, THAT'S GREAT NEWS!" Gwen shouts over the siren. "ANY CHANCE WE CAN GET THEM TO WORK A LITTLE LESS WELL?"
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The metal encased Dwarf marches along with Valsin, definitely in his corner on this disagreement. To his dismay Valsin gives Zarta the leeway she wanted. Nothin' good comes from all those strange magic bobbles! He thinks to himself as he looks at the whipping and slithering plants coming from under the door.
"Well hells. You magicians think you can turn them things off once I get ya to 'em? If not then I'm gonna hafta bust 'em up... Just warnin' ya." He draws out his war axe and drags it along the floor, the blade cutting a deep gouge thanks to the adamantine axe head.
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Zarta nods at the questions, licking her lips lasciviously as she leads you toward the vault. "I don't know exactly what is in there." she points to the tendrils coming under the doorway. "Maybe some seeds. The vault was a general storage space that was used for as yet unappraised items." she explains.
Shaking her head Zarta nods to Gwendolyn. "A silence spell would be nice sometimes I think."
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"It is just a storeroom. Make your preparations and let us get to it before any more damgae is done." sighs Zarta.
Zarta removes a key and opens the door.
Sticky, humid air saturates this dome-shaped chamber, and veins of yellow-green tendrils form a web across its stone walls. A thin layer of slimy green pollen coats the hundreds of small curios scattered throughout the room, as well as the sundered crates that once stored them. Bulbous tubes of spiny fungus sprawl across the floor, connected to thick columns that reach up to the ceiling and dangle pods of prickly, putrid fruit. All of these growths are rooted to a glowing glass sphere filled with churning yellow protoplasm, which hovers six feet above the floor. Two bands of coalesced spores encircle the sphere like planetary rings.
Worryingly in the middle of the room, a number of crates seem to have broken open, and the parts(?) within seem to have assembled themselves into ... somethings. One appears to be a cohesive pile of junk that is stomping around. The other is a swirling storm of smaller parts, scouring the area around it.
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With a few words of magic, Gwen's staff and eyes glow the colour of magic--octarine, a sort of purplish-yellow with cinnamon tasting sprinkles, and a smell like dust on sun-warmed mahogany mixed with lime yogurt. Though of course you have to have the sight to see such a color.
Worryingly in the middle of the room, a number of crates seem to have broken open, and the parts(?) within seem to have assembled themselves into ... somethings. One appears to be a cohesive pile of junk that is stomping around. The other is a swirling storm of smaller parts, scouring the area around it.[/ooc]
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As Zarta prepares to open the door, Ironshanks straps on his heavy wooden shield and keeps his axe at the ready. "Ready when you are Missy!" Echoes out of his steel helm and visor.
Lucky for him no one can see the look of dismay, anxiety, and annoyance on the Dwarf's face as the scene before him unfolds. Looks like an overgrown swamp in there.. hopefully the floor is solid.
He moves into the room, taking point but keeping his axe at the ready in case anything decides to come at them.
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Zarta steps forward and uses her wand to clear the entrance.
Status, bold may post
Argenta
Urias
Grog
Creatures
Tatiana
Ironshanks
Gwen
Zarta
Heavy undergrowth costs 4 squares of movement to move into and provides concealment with a 30% miss chance (instead of the usual 20%). It increases the DC of Acrobatics checks by 5. Heavy undergrowth is easy to hide in, granting a +5 circumstance bonus on Stealth checks. Running and charging are impossible. Squares with undergrowth are often clustered together. Undergrowth and trees aren’t mutually exclusive; it’s common for a 5-foot square to have both a tree and undergrowth.
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Status, bold may post
Argenta
Urias
Grog
Creatures
Tatiana
Ironshanks
Gwen
Zarta
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Grog delays, obviously befuddled by the bizarre scene before him.
The two things in the room move forward, the more intact creature obviously hindered by crossing the vines that snake around the room. The flying swarm of parts however continues forward and moves over the top of Urias, who is hurt by the multitude of flying parts and sharp objects.
Several of the vines that had withered under the effect of Zarta's spell grow back..
Zarta again wields her wand this time focusing on the 'tree' that Urias cut into. It withers and dies.
Status, bold may post
Tatiana
Ironshanks
Gwen
Argenta
Urias 8 damage & Fort DC 14 save required.
Grog
Creatures - round 2
Zarta