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Meanwhile, back in the Hall of Taxidermy, Tabar is hit with a sudden flash of insight and realizes that Famish might find the blueprints you picked up to be something worth his while.
"Oh? Blueprints?" Famish's eyebrows shoot up when the ratfolk produces the blueprints for him to look at. As he scans them, his eyes widen with amazement and delight. "Oh...oh my! These are quite the find! Where did you get them? Are you willing to part with them?? I'll give you half of my bank notes I had saved for today's auction!" he babbles excitedly as he pulls out a wad of bank notes totaling a sum of 1,500 gold and shoves them at Tabar. "Hmm? A shard? No clue, not something I'm interested in! Oh, but those blueprints...! Say you'll part with them, good friend!"
Tabar smiles.
"Of course! Here you go! Good luck with that!"
Tabar then listens to the voice of Riltar and follows him.
"Hey, what is going on?"
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Abeesa snorts. "What would I do differently? Why I would inform my dear, sweet, brother that the time has come for him to earn his keep...and his own lodgings!"
"Well, then, I am sorry that none of your relatives were around to let you know in person, but what I have said is absolutely true. I hope you lead your family with wisdom and kindness."
Bocke gives her the will.
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Tabar then listens to the voice of Riltar and follows him.
"Hey, what is going on?"
***...come alone...leave your dog to Birseko...***
Once Tabar is around the corner, Riltar draws deep from his arcane pool of energies to replenish his mind with the appropriate spell, and puts a hand on Tabar's shoulder, turning the ratfolk invisible, and whispering "Hold on to my arm and follow me. We have a safe to crack. Well, you do... with your thieves' tools that is..."
"Excellent," Pateba smiles. As Hellebore passes the bust over to him, his expression changes. "Oh...oh, this...why, I see the resemblance, plain as day," he gasps with delight. And now that he mentions it, Hellebore does note that there seems to be some small family resemblance between Pateba and the woman depicted by the bust. "Oh Inusi, I knew you'd come through for me!"
The man pulls out a number of bank notes, totaling 2,000 gp, and hands them to Hellebore. "As promised, my end of the bargain. That clockwork would have been lovely to add to my collection but perhaps things worked out for the best - any trace of my ancestors, such as this bust, is priceless to me. Thank you friend, for being willing to part with it."
Pateba gives the elven woman a low bow of thanks and then makes his way back down the stairs and towards the museum's exit.
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"Oh, you will!? Thank you kind one, thank you!" Famish squeals with delight when Tabar happily hands over the blueprints. The gnome hastily shoves a handful of bank notes into the ratfolk's hand - the agreed upon amount of 1,500 gp - and then does a little jig.
"Woohoo! I must go home and examine these right away!"
And with that, Famish also makes his exit, the auction clearly all but forgotten.
It's about this time that Tabar hears an urgent whisper through the Message spell from Riltar, and slips off to see what his ally needs.
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When Bocke offers to hand over Abbash Borkalik's will in exchange for them not bidding on a particular shard, Abeesa laughs. "Good sir, you have my word. If it were up to me we would not be here at all!"
"This whole thing is a farce!" Abbashin continues to protest. "This gentleman has been sent to rile us up so we will not...bid..."
The elder sibling's face goes pale when Bocke produces the will, complete with the very real sigil of Abbash Borkalik himself. "I...I..."
Abeesa, on the other hand, looks delighted and perhaps a bit smug as she quickly rolls the will up and secures it with the pair's bank notes. "Well, Abbashin...it looks like the shoe is now on the other foot. You would be wise to begin looking for gainful employment after we leave here," she chuckles as she fishes out some bank notes and presses them into Bocke's hand. "I wish I could offer you more for your assistance, but this will have to do. Thank you!"
She beckons to her sibling. "Time to go, dear brother. Master Reed, good luck to you at the auction!"
The pair depart, Abbashin trailing after his sister with his figurative tail between his legs. Bocke stands, perhaps a bit bemused, with a total of 2,000 gp worth of bank notes in his hand.
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After carefully making your way back to the corner office, Tabar sets to work on cracking the lock on the safe. The ratfolk has little trouble after a bit of tinkering, the lock pops with a soft *click*.
As you open the safe, you're met with a gruesome but perhaps not entirely unexpected sight - the dismembered body of a human woman has been placed into this safe. As the safe is far from airtight, her blood has oozed out, forming the dark and now tacky puddle that Riltar initially spotted.
The woman's glassy, empty eyes stare out at the both of you...
Back in the Hall of Taxidermy, Birseko continues to keep to himself while scanning the thoughts of those nearby. Of course the Hall has emptied itself a fair bit, with only Madame Adenalar remaining besides himself and most of his companions.
This time, the noblewoman doesn't seem to register Birseko's magic as he carefully probes her surface thoughts.
Ever-blooming grape flowers...oh, I hope Aya was not exaggerating! Such a thing would make a lovely addition to my garden...
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Bocke will approach Madame Adenalar and introduce himself.
"Good day, Madame. I am Bocke Reed, purveyor of historial artifacts. What brings you to the auction today?"
"I've been hired by some Taldane benefactors to locate a fragment of a Taldane shield. It has some sort of historical importance to them. Are you familiar with it?"
As Bocke approaches the noblewoman he notices right away that unlike some nobles that he's met, Madame Adenalar is quite tan, with strong arms and a bit of dirt under her fingernails. She chuckles a little in response to Bocke's rather direct approach.
"Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that," she answers with an enigmatic smile. "Is this your first auction? If so, you'll quickly find that it doesn't pay to tip one's hand about their interests to potential competition. That said, I will 'throw you a bone' as some might say, and reassure you that while I have heard some rumors of this shield fragment, my own particular interests lie elsewhere today."
While obviously quite vague and perhaps a little blunt, Bocke feels certain that she means well with her advice. She also seems to be telling the truth about her lack of interest in the shard.
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"This is my first auction in Rahadoum," Bocke replies.
"My employer doesn't often send people out this far. And you, are you here at the behest of someone? Forgive me, your elegance seems to suggest a certain amount of power, but you seem to be muttering the name 'Aya' every once in a while."
"As we have no common interest in any of the auction items, I don't consider us competitors. And, if you forgive my honesty, in my line of work, I seek to make as many connections as possible. I would love to help you, in the hope that should you be seeking a ... um ... procurement manager ... in the future, you would remember me."
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"My employer doesn't often send people out this far. And you, are you here at the behest of someone? Forgive me, your elegance seems to suggest a certain amount of power, but you seem to be muttering the name 'Aya' every once in a while."
"As we have no common interest in any of the auction items, I don't consider us competitors. And, if you forgive my honesty, in my line of work, I seek to make as many connections as possible. I would love to help you, in the hope that should you be seeking a ... um ... procurement manager ... in the future, you would remember me."
"Oh?" Madame Adenalar responds, raising a curious eyebrow. "No, I am here of my own accord. Aya is Aya Ajiri, the proprietor of the Sacred Cobra and a woman of many connections and means, herself. It was she who hinted that I might be interested in a certain prize going up for auction today."
The noblewoman glances around. "I haven't seen her since I arrived, but that is not unusual - she is surely hard at work getting everything ready for the festivities."
"But back to the matter at hand. I appreciate a direct approach, rather than the beating around the bush that so many people seem inclined to do," she smiles. "And I just might have some use for a 'procurement manager', especially one who can represent my interests in the event that I am not able to be present to do so myself. Once the auction is concluded, perhaps we can speak more on that matter."
As engaged as she is in the conversation, Madame Adenalar doesn't seem to register Bocke's subtle attempts to keep her attention on him and not on more of his companions slipping out of the Hall of Taxidermy...
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Meanwhile, back in the corner office, Birseko has arrived to see what he can make of the dismembered corpse that Riltar and Tabar discovered inside the safe.
As the psychic carefully palpates the dead woman's skull, he focuses...
Through the use of phrenology, Birseko determines that the human woman was in her early 30s and possessed of an individualistic streak that saw her beholden to no one and resentful of authority and tradition. What's more, in life he knows that she was something of a scoundrel, though he can't quite get a read on whether her activities were small-time or perhaps grander in scale.
All of this is interesting of course but it's Birseko's use of psychometry that yields something useful. Rather than focus specifically on the body, he instead focuses on the room around him and a multitude of visions flicker across his mind as he does. It takes a few moments for his brain to sort them into any sort of logical picture, but when he does...
~The visions swirl and coalesce into a view of the very office you stand in now, except there is no pool of blood, no dismembered body. Instead, a woman stands at the desk with her back to the door, quickly rifling through some of the papers on the desk. She sighs and clucks her tongue.
"Tsk tsk. Oh Ulm, you've gotten wiser - good for you but a pity for me. Still, I've got more than enough to make sure you stay nice and compliant..."
As you watch this, your vantage point shifts as you draw closer to the woman....and then it hits you. You're watching this from the eyes of *someone else*. As you silently scream for the woman to turn around, the one who's sight you inhabit draws closer...and closer...and then with one swift, fluid movement, they've clamped a hand over the woman's mouth and drawn a dagger across her throat. The woman claws at her throat and slowly sinks to the floor as her murderer releases their grip.
Blood rapidly puddles on the floor as the woman collapses onto her side. She utters an unintelligible gurgle as her eyes roll upward, desperate to catch a glimpse of the one who killed her...and then, they widen with horror. You see, reflected in her eyes, not yourself but another woman. Yet this is no normal woman; her skin is pale and mottled, stretched tightly over her features, her hair is gray and her eyes...her eyes are an unholy red. She smiles cruelly, revealing sharp teeth...and then the vision fades and you find yourself back in the office with your companions once more.~
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Birseko emerges from his trance and relates what he saw to his comrades. "I wonder if the murder victim I saw is this poor corpse here?" He gazes down at the body to see if there are any indications one way or another. He also pauses to recall - though this is typically not his strong suit - whether anyone they have encountered so far looks like the red-eyed woman in his vision.
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***...to the Social Butterflies Team: ask about a certain Ulm...we have found some troubling evidence here in the main office...the auction organizer lady has been murdered we think...suggestions?...***
Riltar looks around those present with him in the office, and asks "What's next gentlemen? we go to the authorities with this? this is murder... can the auction go on without this lady? and who is this Ulm character Birseko saw in his vision?!"
Another cursory glance at the body and Birseko is certain that the murdered woman in his vision and the dismembered corpse are one and the same. The murderer likely saw the safe as the most readily convenient hiding place for the body and dismembered it to make it fit better.
Chilling, but sensible. If you're a murderer.
While no one that Birseko - or anyone else in the group - has seen thus far fits the description of the red-eyed woman, you all recall the tale Inusi told you last night about the hooded woman who attacked her home. It likely isn't a coincidence.
All that aside, Riltar brings up a very good point - now that you've got a body on your hands, how do you proceed from here? Should you rat out the auction to the Pure Legion? Kazima seems to think you're all people of good, upstanding morals and so your presence here could likely be explained away if need be. Or should you try to take matters into your own hands and look to deal with this yourselves?
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Birseko ponders. "Besides dealing with the murderer - who may well be looking for us at this point! - we still have our mission to acquire the shard - if we bring the Legion in the auction will likely get shut down and then how will we complete our task? Though I may be wrong, my instinct is that we handle this on our own and not bring in the authorities until we have secured what we came for."
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"And I just might have some use for a 'procurement manager', especially one who can represent my interests in the event that I am not able to be present to do so myself. Once the auction is concluded, perhaps we can speak more on that matter."
"Indeed, I look forward to speaking with you again."
Bocke channels his inner Columbo.
"By the way ... have you seen Ulm around? I was told they could use my services as well."
"By the way ... have you seen Ulm around? I was told they could use my services as well."
"Ulm? You mean Ulm Gurran, the high curator of the museum? Hmm...I do not believe he is present today but it certainly would not surprise me if he's in the market for additional workers to acquire pieces for this place," Madame Adenalar answers. "Perhaps tomorrow, when the museum has returned to normal operating hours, he will be in?"
Her words seem quite honest and sincere.
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Meanwhile, the rest of the group is quick to reconvene back in the Hall of Taxidermy and a hushed conversation ensues where you agree to try and deal with the body and the unidentified murderer yourselves, rather than involve the Pure Legion.
But any further conversation on how exactly to deal with it is cut short as a pair of the guards call out, "Ladies and gentlemen, it is time! Please, come this way."
The six of you and Madame Adenalar are ushered out of the Hall of Taxidermy and into the lecture hall-turned-auction hall. This long and narrow room features a podium at the far end. Two columns of oak chairs with satin pillows cushioning the seats line the northern and southern walls.
As you enter, a guard hands you a program with a list of available items and their starting bids, as well as the order in which they'll be presented:
1) Bracers of Divine Range - 2,500 gp
2) Clockwork statue of Brigh - 1,000 gp
3) Phylactery of Faithfulness - 500 gp
4) Kelksiomedes’s grape trellis - 2,500 gp
5) Staff of Healing, Minor - 4,400 gp
6) Eldas’s platinum drafting tools - 1,500 gp
7) Incense of Meditation - 1,650 gp
8) Golden statue of Ra - 5,000 gp
9) Shard of the Shattered Shield of Arnisant - 5,000 gp
Once everyone is seated, a young woman walks in front a side door near the front, followed by a guard laden with items. After depositing them on the front podium, the guard exits through the other door and joins his fellow outside the auction room.
The woman takes up position behind the podium and smiles. "Welcome, discerning guests, to the Sacred Cobra Auction! Rather than waste time on idea pleasantries, we'll instead get right to business. The first item for bid is a set of Bracers of Divine Range. Handy for any divine spellcaster! The bidding will begin at 2,500 gp. Do I hear 2,500?"
But it's not the bracers that catch the attention of some of you, but the woman herself. Riltar, Tabar, and Birseko recognize the woman...except she looks just like the woman they found cut to pieces inside the safe!
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Though Riltar urges for the group to grab the shard and get out of dodge, the rest of you seem more inclined to wait out the auction and then confront the supposed impostor...or not.
As it turns out, when you've only got what amounts to two 'parties' at an auction, things proceed pretty rapidly. The auctioneer seems a bit amused by the proceedings but happily continues along as you find yourselves to essentially have your pick of the items - Madame Adenalar turns out to be true to her word and only bids on Kelksiomedes’s grape trellis, which you allow her to win.
After all of the other items have been bid upon, finally, finally, only one remains - the shard from the Shattered Shield of Arnisant. The auctioneer carefully places the shard front and center on the table and turns back to all of you with a strange smile on her face.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we are ready for the main event!" With that, the auctioneer gives a sharp whistle. Immediately, you hear the sound of smashing glass above you! Shards of glass come raining down from the ceiling, and a golden creature lands among them. The creature is shaped like a gargoyle or perhaps a demon, but it has a gold patina and blades for hands.
You realize this creature is an unusual variant necrograft - a sort of constructed undead.
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Bocke
Birseko
Riltar
Dimak
Tabar
Hellebore
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Big Ugly Monster
Auctioneer
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
Riltar recognizes this beast as a variant necrocraft, a sort of undead construct. He remembers that not only is it resistant to both fire and cold effects, but that such a creature also possesses a small degree of spell resistance as well.
But he does let this stop him as he jumps up from his seat, tumbling forward as he draws his rapier. As he gets in close, he charges up his hand and attempts to deliver a shock to the monstrosity...
...but even though he's easily able to reach out and tag the necrocraft, the thing's innate spell resistance causes Riltar's spell to have no effect!
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Bocke
Birseko
Riltar
Dimak
Tabar
Hellebore
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Gold-Clad Necrocraft
Auctioneer
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Bocke, Birseko, Dimak, Tabar and Hellebore are UP!
Or rather, it almost looks as though the necrocraft is going to resist the spell...and then the electricity arcs across it, leaving several small burns!
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Bocke
Birseko
Riltar
Dimak
Tabar
Hellebore
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Gold-Clad Necrocraft
Auctioneer
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Bocke, Birseko, Dimak, Tabar and Hellebore are UP!
Everyone leaps into action, ready to tackle this strange and terrifying threat!
Tabar advances and easily sticks the necrocraft with his rapier, but notices that it doesn't seem to do quite as much damage as he'd have expected.
Bocke calls upon his powers to make his arrows especially devastating to undead as he takes aim and fires...but even with the necrocraft flat-footed, the arrow sails a little too high and misses!
Almost...happy?...to have an issue that he can help with, Dimak flies into a rage as he barrels up and delivers a mighty blow with his longhammer!
*CRUNCH*
It does a noticeable amount of damage! And yet, Dimak inexplicably feels that the necrocraft resisted some of it, somehow.
Hellebore glares that the necrocraft, attempting to put the evil eye on it, but senses that the hex has absolutely no effect on the thing. On the other hand, she does know that targets struck by this creature will bleed more so than usual from their wounds. It also has a limited ability to deal additional damage to a target of especially pure heart.
BirsekoBot delays, trying to decide how to best aid in the battle.
The necrocraft utters a guttural moan as it lashes out with both claws, one directed at Tabar and the second at Riltar!
Both claws hit home, with even Tabar's impressive skills failing to blow the blow meant for him! Ratfolk and halfling find that their wounds seem to be bleeding excessively!
Madame Adenalar shrieks and flees for the door at the rear of the lecture/auction hall while the auctioneer laughs wildly before pulling out a vial and drinking it down. As she does, she vanishes from sight!
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Bocke
Birseko
Riltar
Dimak
Tabar
Hellebore
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Gold-Clad Necrocraft
Auctioneer
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
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"Some sort of necrograft! A bit between a construct and an undead. Unfortunately, my memory fails me when it comes to this particular variety."
Seeing the auctioneer disappear, Birseko strains his memory to recall a spell that perhaps he once knew...
Birseko recalls how to cast See Invisibility and does so, looking around to see if he can spy the (presumably invisible) auctioneer and if so, point out their position to his comrades.
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"Aarrgh!" winces Riltar, putting distance between his fragile frame and the monster.
Drawing a wand as he goes, he asks Hellebore and Bocke, "Any of you can make use of that wand of healing on me, when time might allow? you see, there's this gaping hole in my right side now, and it won't stop bleeding..."
Riltar then weaves a quick enchantment on himself, and copies of himself appear to surround him momentarily...
When the auctioneer vanishes Birseko is moved to act, recalling and then casting a spell to allow him to see the invisible. As he does, he can see that the auctioneer is still in the room, standing in the same spot she was when she vanished.
Pained by the blow he just took, Riltar tumbles backwards out of the necrocraft's reach, pulling out a healing wand as he does. He then conjures a pair of duplicate images that swirl around and mirror his actions, hoping it will help protect him.
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Bocke
Birseko
Riltar
Dimak
Tabar
Hellebore
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Gold-Clad Necrocraft
Auctioneer
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Bocke, Dimak, Tabar and Hellebore are UP!