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"Yeah. You right, Nali. Kreighton Shaine pretty cool elf."
Not!
Although she is not proficient with adamantine light flails, Aeliah decides to stow one of the weapons in her backpack in case one of the others wants it later.
"What Arcanamirium do? It like magic school in Absalom?"
The druid turns to the more eldritch-minded members of the party. "You know anything 'bout it?"
THE ARCANAMIRIUM
You quickly make your way across the city to the Arcanamirium. The campus is dotted with gothic-style stone structures and imposing marble towers, with apprentice wizards hurrying between buildings on their way to classes. It is clear when you arrive at the reception desk that this is not a normal day. A pair of gnomes working at the reception desk seemed a tad overwhelmed. The pair look up as you enter. One leans over to the other, "Okay Thamble. Here we go. Our first day out of training."
"I know Dralleana. This is going to be so much fun!"
They clasp each others hands with crossed fingers. "For luck." After placing a couple of well-practiced smile on their faces, they turn toward you and greet you in unison. "Welcome to The Arcanamirium! The Arcanamirium is the oldest and largest magical college in Absalom, as well as perhaps the most prestigious academy of arcane arts in the entire Inner Sea region. How may we assist you today?"
It's clear that the student employees have a wonderfully cheerful demeanor uncommon among seasoned secretarial staff. While full of enthusiasm, these two lack muck experience. The PCs must learn the proper names of the items they seek and where the items are presently stored without getting bogged down in reception’s bureaucracy or the staff’s inexperience.
Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (history)
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"Oh look at you two dears. Would you like some sweets? I know we're in excellent hands with you two to help us," Martialda answers, beaming as she pulls a handful of boiled candies stolen rescued from Zarta's office from her bag. She brushes away the worst of the lint and offers them to the gnomes. "Now then, we're looking for two globes. They're part of a set of three, with the third recently sent to the Grand Lodge for study. They're also linked to the Dark Tapestry, if that helps. Any ideas where we could start looking, or any other details that might help you narrow it down? Oh, and these are my grandchildren - Alien, Billy, Mayo, Navi, and Aaron."
"Oh, and these orbs might be related to Aucturn. Does that help?"
After ten minutes of frantic leafing through indexes, registrars and tomes, the pair nearly burst out in unison, They hug and shake hands with one another in a self-congratulatory celebration. Thramble lectures the team, "You know, this would have gone much faster if you had just started at the end..."
"...instead of beginning at the beginning." finishes Dralleana.
Thramble excitedly continues, "In any case, it seems that the items you want have both been checked out already. One to be placed on display at the Blakros Museum. Have you ever been there? I hear they just remodeled...again."
Not to be outdone, Dralleana points a chubby finger to a line, "It looks like the other is still right here on campus. Checked out by professor...ew."
"Who's that luv? I've never heard of them." Thramble leans in to read the name. "Oh yes. 'EW' indeed."
Dralleana looks up and explains, "Professor, and journeyman wizard, Maren Fuln has it in his office for research."
Thramble points to the far stairwell, "You can find his office up on the third floor."
As they both wave, Dralleana adds, "Have a nice day."
After a brief cardio workout, it takes a few minutes to navigate to Fuln's office. However, the door is securely locked. After knocking on the door, all you receive is a distracted, "I'm a...rather busy at the moment. Not a good time. Come back half past never, will you please?"
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"Oh, you must mean Marvin," Matrialda replies with a scowl as the gnomes relay their information. "Such a naughty boy - I haven't seen it myself, you know, but my friend's sister's aunt's cousin twice removed says he's been bullying the younger students here. Honestly, I've been meaning to write to his mother..." The matriarch leaves another handful of sweets for the very helpful curators, ruffles their hair, and sighs as she surveys the towering staircase. "Boys and their towers. Honestly. It's like they're trying to compensate for something." She leans over and nudges Aeliah with a grin. "Like their abysmal manners, I mean!"
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At the top of the stairs, Matrialda's usually-immaculate appearance is marred somewhat by her flushed cheeks and shortness of breath. "Young man, we've already had to neutralize three bloodthirsty golems from another planet summoned by your artifact's twin," she replies crossly. "Not to mention the pruning poor Zelda's going to have to do to clean up her room. Now you open up this door right now, or I'll be writing to both the provost and your father to tell them about your disgraceful treatment of your colleagues."
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“Boys and their towers.”
“Yeah. Aeliah don’t get it, gran.”
As the party leaves, the druidess scowls at the gnome-pair. Lucky …
“It not whether rod lesser or greater. Maximized, enlarged, extended or bouncing.”
“What matter is the wizard, and skill has at waving it.”
“Thing from book-house in your room dangerous. We can help.”
Aeliah tries to think of another (cheap) enticement. “If open door see gnome with pretty eyes and hair. Worth seeing before he become lich.”
A nervous "Uh..okay, just a sec." is followed by the sound of locks being turned. A young man with blonde hair sticks his head into the hallway. After a brief looks at you, he quickly checks the rest of the hallway. He seems visibly relieved that no one else is nearby. "So, you're not from the university then. Good. Come in, come in. Hurry." He waves you inside the office.
The floor of this workplace is layered in charcoal and gravel, with mounds of incense burning in regularly spaced wall sconces and two metal braziers to the north. Worktables, chairs, and haphazard stacks of papers take up the eastern half of the room. A glass sphere floats above a desk in the western section of the room, holding a roiling mass of dark liquid. Faint motes of light fly from the orb to a wide summoning circle that has been carefully drawn in the stone and ash, illuminating its circumference with subtly shifting numerological sigils.
A tentacled eye warily observes the office from within the runed circle, while Maren stands by the desk. "Pretty incredible, huh? I was studying the beacon, and it started to vibrate. I barely got the protections up in time. I've been trying to find out its connection to the box, but it's pretty hard to communicate clearly."
The eye tracks Maren a moment longer before scanning the party. Arms constantly undulate as if the creature were under water. Eventually the eye stops on Aeliah and the iris narrows. In everyone's mind, they hear, “If you have skin, how do you leave memories behind?”
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Nali looks over the wards with approval before eyeing the eyeball herself. "We don't," she says with a bit of annoyance. "You say beacon called this?"
Then it 'talks' to her.
Nali's eyes widen and she whirls her head to look directly at it. After a long second, she replies, "With word, with deed, with writing. Form matters not, so long as story is told again and again. Are you curious about stories?"
The eye swivels to Nali. "How do you taste 'formless' stories?"
At any given point during their conversation, a PC can attempt a skill check to try to pry an answer out of Nggilth-Tsa, with skills indicated below:
(Diplomacy or Spellcraft)
(Bluff or Knowledge [geography])
(Knowledge [arcana] or Sense Motive)
(Intimidate or Knowledge [engineering])
Given Nggilth-Tsa’s wariness, PCs cannot use aid another on these checks, and each PC can attempt to use each skill only once.
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Aeliah tries to think of another (cheap) enticement. “If open door see gnome with pretty eyes and hair. Worth seeing before he become lich.”
Arin looks at Aeliah, not frowning but trying to place the meaning of her refrence. He glances at his own form for a moment before dismissing it and looking up at the closed door.
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Arin reflects on his planar knowledge, reaching into the deep recesses for the creatures from the dark tapestry.
They will drive this poor student mad. He does not know what he plays with...
He then mutters a quick prayer in abyssal, to himself, before stepping forward and addressing the creature.
We "taste" stories with our minds, through our eyes and ears. The same way that you "taste" our conversation.
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Ayo notices that the question about skin was left unanswered. "We do not leave our memories behind. We carry them with us. There are no memories left behind, only those that were created by those we left behind. Only each of us knows why we are here and where we came from. Where did you come from and why?"
Special attacks/abilities
pain touch, project terror, void transmission
Spells/spell-like abilities
Constant—mage armor
At will—detect thoughts, invisibility, share memory
1/day—modify memory (DC 16)
Arin, Nali already asked about weaknesses & defenses.
Defensive Abilities
All-around vision; Immune cold, disease
I will give you Special Qualities instead (as its really the only thing left).
Compression, no breath, telepathy
“A door, a copper wall that moves. Pass from one side to the other, and the space changes. Pass from the other side, and it squirms. Built by a man going home from home. Could not quite make it, so he brought some of home through the door—made a house beyond the void. But his guests are homesick; they want to see the worlds. Why are all your senses on one head?”
“Corners of Spheres. One who craves memories. One who longs for day to understand night. It is hard to warm a cold void. If you stop breathing, do your thoughts change color?”
“Lights, bright lights, to hold in the dark. When the dark pushes back, the lights shine brighter, and there is balance, a seal on the gate. But the dark is everywhere now, even within the light, for the light now shines from the darkest stone in orbit. Maybe Corners of Spheres can now unseal the gate from inside. Would you kill to keep your taste?”
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“My pennaeth benywaidd say Aeliah got good taste. Killing just natural part of life, like eating and breathing.”
“But her NEVER kill for sport, take trophies or unrespect bodies of dead enemy – even those that fighted with no honor.”
“So Aeliah always kill tastefully. QED as Kreighton Shaine say.”
🎓
Turning away from the cosmic horror for a moment, Aeliah speaks to the others, hopeful that private conversations are an alien concept to Professor Fuln’s guest. “Eye Tentacle being unusual talky – not just slaughter all us flesh-bags. Good, yes?”
“Him talk like in past, Dark Tapestry/Golarion scholar?? make a portal between the Far Realm and Prime. Scholar go through this ‘Copper Gate’ get specimens from other side, bring back to Prime.”
“Now scholar gone/dead? And Dark Tapestry people just want to go home. To do, we unseal Copper Gate with … Zarta spheres. Let Dark Tapestry people through. Then seal back up.”
< aside > “There a non-Euclidean geometry reference to sphere corners – but Aeliah ignore that.”
“Aeliah wonder if Pathfinders be nice back to eye-tentacle person. Promise try to get her home. Her let us put sphere in safety box peacefully and we go find this Copper Gate.”
“Thoughts?”
The eye lingers on Arin before responding. “Ralzeros. He could make shapes from words and pain from thoughts. He loved this world but was drawn to another, like gravity. He thought Corners of Spheres could let him live in both, invited them into his house past space. But Ralzeros did not like the answers, left Corners of Spheres scratching at the door. Seems the lights are listening now. Do you devour those who hurt?”
To Lilly's surprise, there does seem to be a decanter of what looks like brandy on the bookshelf behind Maren's desk. As for the creature, many of the tentacles seem to be probing the arcane prism.
Maren hastily scrawls notes, trying to capture the entire exchange. "Good...this is good stuff."
+2 A
+2 I
The yanethe seems to grow more agitated. Tentacles begin pushing against the arcane ward. formless muscles strain with effort. Fascinated, Maren flips a page in his journal. "Wow! This is some great research. I wouldn't worry about it trying to escape. I've had way tougher things in-" <<pop>> "Oh dung!" Almost as if on cue, the protections fail. However, your strength of will and self confidence has been buoyed by your interactions with the Dark Tapestry denizen.
Round 1 Bold may post
Nali
Ayo
Matrialda
Arin
Lilly
Maren
Yangethe
Aeliah
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”Oh, excellent choice Aaron!” Matrialda says delightedly. ”That’s just what I would expect from my favorite grandchild! Here, I’ve got a sweet for you...” The mage’s voice trails off as she digs around her pouch for a moment. With a scowl, she turns the bag upside down and gives it a firm tap - but all that comes out is a cloud of dust, lint, and grit. With an irritated wave, the matriarch shoos the debris away towards the yangeyhe and marches to the edge of the room near Maren. ”Marvin! Did you steal my candies after trying to distract us with this incredibly rude guest!?”
Bonuses added off screen
The oracle's voiceless attack momentarily causes the tentacles to droop and sag listlessly. Then, in a burst of lint, the alien creature begins to shimmer.
Round 1 Bold may post
Nali
Ayo
Matrialda
Arin
Lilly
Maren
Yangethe
Aeliah
With a bit of ferocity, assisted by Arin's well timed ingenuity, Longshadow's blade cuts deep into the aberration's rubbery skin.
"No no no no. Not here! Oh I am so fired." Ignoring the Pathfinders, Maren begins to hastily cast a protective spell around himself.
Blue blood leaks out from the deep cut, but the alien is still reeling from Arin's assault.
Round 1 Bold may post
Nali
Ayo
Matrialda
Arin
Lilly
Maren
Yangethe
Aeliah
"Of course its protected from...wait...
Round 2 Bold may post
Nali
Ayo
Matrialda
Arin
Lilly
Maren
Yangethe
Aeliah