You decide to return to the Venture-Captain to report your findings. You are now just steps away from Dreng's last position. He looks at you with a smile at first and with some concern when he sees the marks of battle on your clothing.
"You are back. I hope you have my bottle ... and you can explain the shape that you are in." he says with a raised eyebrow.
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"Brother, it would be unseemly if you let the others bleed out after staunching my own. Quickly." Malkor urges Valentin to bandage the others while helping, with a healthy dose of scoffing.
He then stomps back to the bar, with a growl at Heryn he pushes himself outside to wait for the others.
"Venture-Captain, that establishment has a bat problem but we have you wine. The question is what you want us to do with it now? Perhaps this mausoleum" he says sharing the information found.
Dreng looks confused first and then almost flabbergasted after hearing Malkor’s story and looking at the documents.
"I ... I cannot believe that I have been in this wine cellar so many times and have never noticed this secret door! You Pathfinders might have found something that gives us a taste of our roots." he says with genuine surprise in his voice.
"You had the luck of finding a long-lost trove of documents and by following my directions you will potentially earn some renown in Absolom. This is an important find and you will be the ones to investigate some potentially far-reaching discovery related to Eylysia because you were the ones to stumble upon it." he says with a sly smile.
Then he looks at the documents in more detail.
"The other documents you found that are not related to Eylysia will need to stay with me so that I can begin assigning other agents to decrypt and collate the contents for proper study and comparison to exploits published in the Pathfinder Chronicles."
Dreng seems to be in thoughts but then starts to speak.
"Well, Fimbrik is a long-serving member of the Arcanamirium — Absalom’s largest and oldest magical institution. But Fimbrik never was a member of the Pathfinder Society although I heard that he had some connections to Pathfinders in the past. The Arcanamirium allows the gnome a sizable residence on its campus in Absalom’s Wise Quarter. I do not know his exact address though. I have to be honest that I have not heard from the gnome in several years although I heard that he can be very dangerous and his illusions are often more real than reality. So ... be careful! But the mausoleum is a good start!" he says.
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"Fimbrik, eh? Dangerous illusions wont scare this elf.". Uoralveren points to himself while puffing out his chest, as though he's the most confident person on Golarion. "We'll tell him you say hello though. Where is this Wise Quarter? And why would a mausoleum be a good start? Nothing ever good comes from a mausoleum."
Dreng raises an eyebrow.
"Malkor here suggested the Mausoleum. You do whatever you think makes sense as a group."
He gives you directions to the Wise Quarter.
Suddenly, Dreng stands up, looks around and seems distracted.
"Ahhhh ... six people standing next to me with papers definitely has blown my cover!" he sighs.
"You find me in the Grand Lodge. Now go and solve this puzzle!" he says and walks away.
MAUSOLEUM
You depart to check the lead involving Arkath. Details left by Selmius Foster indicate the location of Arkath’s burial site: a plot of land in Eastgate operated by the faith of Asmodeus.
A fence surrounds the necropolis grounds, and although members of the faith of Asmodeus and city guards routinely patrol the property, you know that it is still legal to enter the grounds to respect the departed. You can see citiy guards patrolling the area.
Arkath’s crypt is the northernmost structure on the map that you found in Selmius documents.
While the gates into the necropolis are left open to those paying their respects, the doors of all the mausoleums are sealed with sturdy stone slabs.
You are in front of the gates to the necropolis when you suddenly see a man in robes and a large pendant with the holy symbol of Asmodeus approaching. The man is holding up his hands and it is visible that he has lost several fingers.
This seems to be a mid-ranking cleric of Asmodeus and based on your knowledge he has the responsibility to watch over the tombs of the honored remains of friends of the church. You also know that especially for clerics of Asmodeus guarding the sanctity of the tombs is the cleric’s primary responsibility, but each cleric has different motivations and sometimes evil goals.
You know this guy! Durward is his name you believe. A former street thug, Durward lost several fingers and toes — and almost his life — before finding refuge among Absalom’s Asmodean priests. He enjoys his position of privilege and the powers granted to him by his god.
But you also know that Durward is ruthless in persecuting those who do not follow the rules and believes the strong should always be in a position of power.
The man approaching shouts out loud "Who goes there?!"
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Valentin takes the wand with a look of annoyance, ”Might as well sell my sword. Came here to run errands, run from vermin, and now this.” He rolls his eyes and goes around to all the injured members to heal them. He makes it a point to jab them uncomfortably with the wand just to let out some aggression from his system.
Valentin seems absolutely bereft of anything but annoyance as Dreng speaks. He finally perks up at Uoralveren’s mention of vampires. ”Hm. No better place to find those than where the dead reside. Now that seems like a task that we are built for.”
Later as the man approaches, Valentin slyly moves to the front of the group. His chin rises and he looks down his nose at the man as he speaks, ”We are on official assignment from the Clergy of Asmodeus. Need to know basis and you are not important enough to need to know. Move along.” He waves his hand dismissively and looks over his shoulder at the group with a glare that clearly says “Go along with it or I’ll run you through.”
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"I prefer giant spiders over small ones. They provide a better target...than those bats seeing as I used my last vial of acid." Malkor adds in before they head off. He seems disinterested in the odd Venture-Captain.
At the mausoleum, he just watches his brother talk, with his helmet luckily hiding the unimpressed look on his face. He just nods, for now.
Valentin notices that the man likes to be in control ...
"Who do you want to visit?! And I am asking the questions here you undead barbarian! Be happy that you are still standing here and have not been blown to bits by Asmodeus' might!"
He looks down to you and steps uncomfortably close to Malkor.
"Do you also want me to express my obviously superior thoughts or are you serving Asmodeus, too?!"
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"Arkath. My thoughts are simple enough...we are here to visit the grave of an acquaintance. Where my thoughts falter, my might is backs it up. Yet, this is your domain so it is better if we come to an agreement rather than comparing your brain to my brawn." he says closing the rest of the distance, nearly touching his helmet to the head of the Asmodean.
Durward looks at you again ...
"Ha, ha, ha! I am Durward. So you are tough guys! Then a favor it is that you already owe me for speaking with you I assume?" he says with an ugly smile.
The man looks at all of you and his intonation changes to the better.
"This plot of land in Eastgate is dedicated to the faith of Asmodeus and used as the resting ground for those that have served the dark prince, the most powerful of the nine archdevils that inhabit Hell."
He continues "If you do not respect and obey me here then you are welcome to start a fight ..." and his view wanders to the east where you see two city guards routinely patrolling the area around the property.
The cleric has a dirty smile.
"I will grant you permission to access the mausoleum you seek." he says with a stern look.
"But the sooner you are gone the better!!“ and then he turns around and walks away.
You start walking to the mausoleum.
Arkath must have paid a substantial sum to have his remains guarded here as the mausoleum houses only 24 sarcophagi and the names clearly mark many of the other deceased as nobility.
Arkath's sarcophagus is one of the first you see after entering the mausoleum. It is quite simple but very well made.
His name is engraved in Taldan. There are no obvious religious symbols to be seen.
You believe that some strength is needed to open the sarcophagus but that you can jointly remove the upper section to peer into it.
Together you start to move the upper section of the sarcophagus and it is obvious that some of you are not really happy with this act ... disturbing the peace of the dead sometimes comes with harsh results.
But in this case you find darkness, dust and the skeleton of a humanoid being that is resting peacefully in his grave ... you see that the interior of Arkath’s sarcophagus is otherwise empty.
You assume this to be the stonemason’s long-dead skeleton.
You something shiny behind the skeleton's teeth. You remove a coin from the skeletons mouth.
This apparently is a simple coin and resembles ancient currency. A little chip at the side of the coin shows intricate gold and platinum wires within.
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"Well, well. What is the think that is havink to be here?" says Niocholu as he spies a coin behind the skeleton's teeth, which he promptly removes.
This apparently is a simple coin and resembles ancient currency. A little chip at the side of the coin shows intricate gold and platinum wires within.
"What be for you the makink of this?" he asks the others.
You find nothing else of interest in the mausoleum.
FIMBRIK's HOME
You all arrive at the Arcanamirium's campus in Absalom’s Wise Quarter.
Fimbrik's home itself is an impressive stone dwelling reminiscent of what one might expect from an eccentric wizard’s home.
A brick step leads to Fimbrik’s front entrance, which is locked with a rusty lock.
Numerous stacks of newspapers—roughly 2 years’ worth of monthly copies—are piled around the door and crammed into a thin slot at its base. Each rounded corner of the building has a large window, allowing creatures to look into the structure without difficulty.
You ring the bell and knock but receive no answer. In general the house does not look like it has seen many visitors recently.
You begin to walk to the first window on the left of the front entrance.
D3. Bedroom
A bed and desk occupy this room.
Then you walk to the window on the right of the front entrance.
D4. Study
This study contains a round table surrounded by chairs, and the walls are replete with tome-laden bookshelves.
An elderly gnome garbed in noble attire with a dapper rounded hat on his head and a can tipped with a brilliant glowing gem in his hand is standing in the room. It seems as if he is perusing his book collection.
There is no answer.
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Valentin looks on in annoyed confusion at the lack of reaction from the gnome. Surely if the gnome was deaf, he’d have set up some sort of way to know if someone was at the door.
”I’m going to check around back for a possible entrance. I suppose just shout if you manage to break in. He won’t hear you anyway.”
Valentin walks along the wall of the house and looks in and around for any alternate entrances.
The door is locked although the rust indicates that the lock needs maintenance.
The gnome does not react at all. He is either not noticing you or is ignoring you.
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Valentin walks around the house and sees the last room of the house through the window.
D2. Meeting Room
This chamber contains enough chairs, pillows, and desk to accommodate at least six visitors.
Suddenly, you see a second person walking inside the room to the north-east (D2) ... and that person looks identical to the gnome you just saw reading!
And that second person is walking around and then sitting in a chair and reading a newspaper.
To your surprise Kam, the gnome in the north-eastern room notices you and smiles.
He gives a tip of his hat before continuing to read.
Valentin that detected magic sees that there are magical auras surrounding all the rooms you are looking at.
Moderate Illusion
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Valentin makes his way back to the front and relays his findings to the group. ”I don’t think he’s really here. A second one walked in and tipped his hat at me in the back room. Tried to detect magic and it seems there’s magic around the whole house.” He gestures towards the locked door, ”This door might not even be real. Might as well break in and get this over with.”
The door is locked and the rust indicates that the lock needs maintenance but Niocholu is strong and breaks through the door.
The door swings open.
Still standing outside you can glimpse into the gnome's mansion.
D1. Living Room
A large sofa sits awkwardly near the entrance, facing toward the center of the room. Sets of chairs and tables are arranged throughout, and statues of grandiose gnomes occupy the corners of the room.
A set of stairs at the northern edge lead up and down.
Malkor Rixis
Magellia
Niocholu the Useful
Valentin Rixis