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"It seems the Blakros could employ a force of Pathfinders full-time, still no complaints here if it means I get more chances to explore their relics." says a masked figure posted up against the wall of the meeting room. He is wearing elaborately embroidered robes of black and indigo. As he removes his mask, a few strands of grey hair escape the tightly pulled ponytail and fall across his face. The mask is pulled out of his hand by...what appears to be a tentacle-esque whip that is coiled around his waste.
More meaningless errands for that foolish museum? That is how you expect to prepare for fighting my masters...you bore me, elf.
And you annoy me as always, Ulthar. Growing our collection and power is how we we prepare for avenging my family.
The elf grimaces as if he was just insulted before he yanks the mask away from the whip, hanging it from his belt.
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A young human looking man with some peculiar features joins you. Observing him more closely reveals that he is around 25, quite puny and doesn't really have an attractive physique.
Only wearing a loose cloak and very light Haramaki armor, it is clear that he is not a fighter.
Around his neck you see an amulet showing the holy symbol of Chaldira Zuzaristan. On his shoulder you see a tiny horned lizard that has dark black scales. In some areas the scales have a red coloring that curiously forms a pattern that resembles the holy symbol of Chaldira and glows slightly.
He silently listens to Malvic’s words of introduction and then speaks to all of the Pathfinders present.
"Hello, my name is Kioshi Katsu and the young horned lizard on my shoulder is my friend Baahuush. I am very pleased to meet you as I have heard that you form a strong team that has proven that working together is the most important feat when the task is to fight against all odds. Baahuush and I have a personal history here and have just arrived from another mission."
He tries to look into your eyes but that obviously makes him a little uncomfortable.
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I, Goe Lem, will defend you in this endeavor!
A sizable humanoid with bits of granite and crystal in his skin. He wears the long white robe of a priest of Anubis over his heavy armor. His helmet is fitted with a mask that makes his head look like a jackal. He is also equipped with a large flail and a bow.He looks (and is) slow. However you can imagine that he would be a pretty good fortress for spellcasters to hide behind.
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A Dwarf with thin rimmed spectacles, dressed in a checkered flannel shirt of cool earth tones leads a protesting and disheveled man into the room. The Dwarf speaks in a firm but pleading tone "Dale, we can take botanize the yard later, we're going to be late for the briefing!"
The very hairy middle aged man frowns at the Dwarf and rebutts "We've got plenty of time yet Harold, I'm pretty sure that blue bird was sitting on a new life lister Ficus around the back!" He looks up at the crowd of agents in the room and stops a bit short, counting the individuals and realizing he may not have as much time as he thought before laughing and patting his Dwarven friend on the back before introducing themselves to the group.
"Oh hey there fellows and ladies! Call me Dale, and this here is my associate Harold: geologist extraordinaire!" He moves around the room and shakes everyone's hand with gusto, his scrawny arms covered in their own thick layer of hair, almost fur. Harold is far less sociable and smiles and nods to everyone then attempts to fade into the background like an NPC.
Dale's greeting to each person is very thorough and a bit slow as he looks them over, almost like he's analyzing tell tale racial markers, tattoos, or other stylistic accents. "Quite the crew we've got here!" He remarks, focusing mostly on Goe Lem and his Oread heritage. "Harold, introduce yourself to Goe here, the crystalline structure of his skin is fascinating! Kind of like that fellow we worked with that was golden!" He waves the embarrassed Dwarf over, who shakes his head in the negative and takes another step back, looking for a desk to hide behind.
“There’s trouble at the Blakros Museum again,” Venture-Captain Adril Hestram growled when you first entered the meeting room in the Grand Lodge earlier this afternoon. “The museum’s curator, Nigel Aldain, came to me this morning asking for help. Apparently, a wayward daughter of his illustrious patrons, the powerful Blakros family, has disappeared, along with a few of the museum’s watchmen who went looking for her. The Society has helped him in the past, and he wants us to find her, before he loses his job, or worse. Now Nigel’s an old friend, and a former Pathfinder, but this kind of missing person case isn’t really our bailiwick. Normally I’d tell him to find the district guard and leave the Society out of it.
But then he made me an offer that was too good to pass up. Not only will he allow the Society access to the Blakros Museum’s extensive and very private library, but apparently this same missing daughter just returned to Absalom with a pack full of ancient relics collected throughout Osirion and northern Garund. And Nigel promised the Society first pick of any of those pieces that catch our fancy. I don’t need to tell you what those kinds of things might be worth, so it looks like you’re heading to the Blakros Museum tonight.
The missing daughter is named Imrizade Blakros, half-Osirian herself and a pretty successful adventurer and fortune-hunter by all accounts. She just arrived in Absalom out of the blue a few days ago, after a couple of years’ worth of tomb-raiding in the Osirian deserts, and carrying an odd metal cylinder covered in hieroglyphs, like nothing Nigel has ever seen before. Nigel says she went straight to the basement of the museum to do some research in the family’s library, muttering something about ‘whispers in the dark’ and ‘old tapestries,’ or something. He didn’t hear from her for a couple of days, which isn’t unusual when someone is deep into their research in the archives, but he got worried when strange noises started coming from the basement. He sent a watchman down there to investigate, and when he didn’t return, Nigel sent a few more. That was last night, and they haven’t come back up either.
Go to the museum and find out what happened to Imrizade Blakros and the watchmen. Nigel would prefer them alive, of course, especially the Blakros woman, but the Society is more interested in what she brought back with her. I’ve got a hunch it wasn’t just grave goods and pretty jewelry. Whatever she found, the Society wants it, or at the very least some information about it.
Questions?"
DC15
DC25
The wealthy and prominent Blakros family is a large, extended clan of eccentrics with trade contacts rivaling those of the Aspis Consortium who make most of their money selling valuable antiquities across the Taldor-Qadira border. Their daughters are known far and wide for their beauty, and marrying a Blakros woman is a sure path to power and riches.
DC15
DC20
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Sirius joins the discussion.
Sirius Löwenhaupt is a rather average sized young man with a rather slim stature. He has inherited the rather elfish looks of his mother, especially the pointy ears and the azure blue eyes of his father. He has white skin and very long hair in the colour of freshly honey, and usually wears egshelled clothes made of ostrich leather and linnen.
In battle he wears a chainmail of elfish origin and a bardiche.
His voice is a very deep, yet smooth pearly tone.
He then tells the others what he knows about the situation.
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“You are extremely knowledgeable, Sirius!“ Kioshi says appreciatively.
He turns to the venture captain and it is obvious that he is looking for the right words.
“Sir, I definitely do not like the way that you position the elements of this mission to us! The lives of this woman and those guards is definitely important and an artifact that is worth a lot of money is not more valuable than the lives of these people! So I hope that you let us decide how to set the priorities! As I have been to the museum couple of times already, I can only imagine that it will be a challenging mission!!“ Kioshi says with some hesitation.
"Nigel will meet you at the Museum entrance. I'm sure he can give you at least an idea of the layout" Hestram advises.
"As for the mission priorities - we're not the city guard, and we're not the Church of Sarenrae. I made a deal with Aldain. First pick of Imrizade's Osirian trove in exchange for us finding out what's been going on in the Blakros basement, and bringing Imrizade back alive if possible. So go bring her back! And if you do your jobs right you'll bring me that canister! I'm sure my good friend Nigel will consider it a fair exchange."
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Dale listens on to the wealth of knowledge of the group, especially Sirius, nodding in agreement with most of it. "Quite the interesting tidbit about the museum's construction! I wonder what its like to be abducted by aliens!" Dale quickly throws his shoulders back and does his finest 'Coneheads' impersonation, drawing out a strange tool and forming it into a tall silver cone and placing it over his head.
With regards to the mission briefing Dale understands where the Captain is coming from. "We'll do the best we can Kioshi to save the daughter, but trust me, she's not going to be squeaky clean in this. They've got a reputation for a reason. Besides, cool historical, magical artifacts are more interesting than another Blakros spy."
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"No need to worry Hestram. My dealings with the Blakros aligns well with the Society's, when it comes to relics of the past. Saving the fools at the same time should prove doable though." Malvic says as his whip winds up his arm.
He also turns to Sirius absolutely focused on the information about Ralzeros. He listens intently and prods for more, "Where did you find this information, I can't imagine the power that could be waiting in those tunnels below the museum!"
There is the Malvic I chose to aid. Focus yourself on that power.
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Catushlara checks her crossbow, making sure it is in working order and testing the sight. "From what I have heard I can only hope they didn't bring some world ending device or item and especially didn't steal it from someone. I only have one scroll of remove curse." she says with a sigh.
"Well I suppose this will let me see if my new training does any good." the cleric says as she puts her crossbow away and checks the rest of her gear.
Having prepared yourselves as best you can, you proceed to the Museum. It's closed, but your knock on the front door is answered quickly by a nervous, bespectacled elf: Nigel Aldain. "Ah, the Pathfinders! Come in, quickly!"
Nigel ushers you inside. "Hestram briefed you? It's absolutely imperative that you find out what's going on downstairs, and bring Imrizade back. I'll show you the way." He escorts you into the North Exhibit Hall and inside a ziggurat via a hidden door. A wide ramp leads down to the basement. "We use it to move large exhibits."
Malvic asks for a map. "I could sketch a layout on a piece of parchment if you like, but I don't really see how it will help. I've no idea where the noises are coming from, or even what they are."
Nigel nevertheless provides a sketch, showing three storerooms, a scriptorium and a library.
At the bottom of the ramp two sets of double doors lead east and west. Wooden placards on the doors read "Storeroom 1" and "Storeroom 2".
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"Just know what the layout of the basement...should be is going to be a boon. I have seen how the artifacts on display can literally pull this place into other planes of existence." Malvic explains his desire before bowing as he takes the drawing.
He nods at the question posed by Goe Lem, surprises are dangerous.
Once they reach the bottom of the steps, he taps the front two on the shoulders, and motions to the right.
"Clear one side before worrying about the other." he suggests.
"I really don't know how to describe the noises. They are... unsettling. Like the claws of some unknown beast being drawn down over a chalkboard. Or whispers on the fringes of your consciousness, not loud enough to make out any words but there all the same. That's the best I can manage.
As for Imrizade's finds, I haven't even catalogued them yet but she was clearly in northern Garund - the territory that comprised ancient Osirion. She has that weird metal cylinder with her, the one I told Hestram about. I've no idea what the thing is.
I sent five men down after Imridaze. They haven't come back. Please, go and find them! Go and bring Imrizade back!"
Nigel urges you down the ramp.
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Dale smiles and waves at Nigel, knowing him from at least one prior meeting to quell yet another mystery in the museum. "Well, at least the place isn't all misty this time right Nigel?" Dale jokes before following the others downstairs.
Once reaching the bottom he bolsters himself with an alchemical concoction before quickly rinsing his mouth out with a potion and spitting it back into the bottle. Surely by now its growing all sorts of things.. "Its always a surprise on how that tastes... I think it changes by the day actually." He then hands a vial to their lead muscle Goe "This will boost your speed considerably for about 6 minutes if you get in a pinch!"
He then pulls out a glowing stone and lets it go, circling his head and shedding light in case they need it. Finally he pulls out and checks the load on a light crossbow, just in case. "Ready when you are, just don't move TOO fast.. there's lots of neat things I'll need to be checking over.. for clues of course." And for Zarta.. and ME!!
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Dale looks at Kioshi strangely, and then up at the orbiting glowing light stone around his head "Yes I've got light, but its only as bright as a single torch. It might be wise to have a light on the front ranks also." He then takes out a stout steel flask and drinks down another liquid. His skinny arms get skinnier and his hairy self somehow gets even hairier. His lips pucker up "Damn that's bitter!"
Nigel can only shake his head glumly when reminded of previous Pathfinder involvement at the Museum...
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Dale pokes his head into the anteroom and scrunches up his nose "Might be too tight around here for the crossbow. Maybe best I use the wand... " He swaps his gear around as Harold nods in the background.
"I'm sure any door will do, but north is good." Dale says as he pulls out his wayfinder and scans them both for magic, lingering a bit longer afterwards to see what his companions are wearing for fun glowy stuff.
Hrm...
Goe Lem finds nothing unusual about the storeroom doors, and nobody senses any magic on them. He pushes them open.
The doors open onto a vast hall draped in shadowy cobwebs and filled with haphazardly placed statues. The air is heavy with dust. Any noise echoes hollowly among the figures, some swathed in thick coverings like misshapen beasts, others bare and uncovered, all coated in a thick layer of dust. Leering visages loom out of the darkness, fearsome wooden and stone faces carved in grimaces and scowls.
The ceiling is twenty feet high. Unlit oil lamps hang in the centre of each wall.
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Seeing nothing try to eat Goe, Dale moves into the room and studies the nearest statues, as well as the thick layer of dust on the floor. "Wonder if we can see anything traveling through here... we're supposed to find that woman and those guards so if they came this way there's gotta be tracks right?"
He waves the others inside but reminds them to not trample any tracks before he can take a look. "Tread lightly, and if a spider carries me away please carry me back! Oh, and maybe someone can light those lamps?" He looks to the other casters in the group.
The hairy man sees no tracks in the dust.
The statues are a wide variety, but all of them of a sort that you might find adorning ancient temples. They come from all over Avistan and Garund - there's a noteworthy 10-foot-tall depiction of the arch-devil Mephistopheles, several Vudran demons, and numerous regal Garundi humans whom Dale suspects may be Osirian pharaohs from a lost age, though these statues have clearly been here for some time.
The cobwebs seem quite normal - as in they are not the product of some giant terror lurking in the ceiling.
However, you are not alone.
Flanking a door in the southern wall are two large statues of demonic, winged Vudran women. As Malvic reaches the centre of the room, the two animate and attack!
DC21
DC26
Pet
One of the statues, with a blue sash, takes to the air. The second, with a red sash, steps forwards and slashes at Malvic with its sword, gashing the Mordant elf.
round 1
Malvic, -12hp
Catushlara
Kioshi, mirror image
Statues (blue is 10' in the air)
Goe Lem
Sirius
Dale
Baahuush
The bold may act!