Dot in.
Drandle Dreng’s entrance is as understated as always at the meeting with him this morning. He carries stacks of papers and tomes, and shedding stray pages as he makes his way toward a large, cushioned chair; once seated, he greets you warmly.“Welcome, welcome, glad to see you’ve made yourself at home. No point in beating around the bush, since I’m sure you’re all very curious why I called you here today, hm?“As you may or may not know, the Society has been bolstering its influence with the esteemed Blakros family for some time now, and have assisted them and their famous museum with various incidents over the past few years—discovering several new levels of catacombs in the process.“Just recently, the Blakros Museum’s curator, Nigel Aldain, informed us that he’d discovered a mysterious portal within the building’s vast catacombs, and sought information regarding how to open it. We sent one of our agents, a man by the name of Anumet Akrostera, to help research the matter further, which involved delving into the various attics and crawlspaces of the Blakros Museum in search of clues that might lead to the whereabouts of the portal’s key.“Earlier today, Nigel showed up here, claiming that something was wrong with Anumet. It seems that the Pathfinder set off some sort of curse or trap while poking around in the place’s attics and was acting strangely, and now he can’t be found at all. I need you to head to Blakros Museum and get to the bottom of this. Find Anumet, and if he has gotten himself into irreparable trouble, you’ll also need to take up where he left off and find that key.”
Any questions
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Triix nods. She is a star sorceress dressed somewhat like a stage magician along with a pointy hat that hides her antennae.
Sounds like fun sir she replies. I have always found the museum to be an interesting place. Lots of fascinating stuff to study. I take it he has no idea where this portal goes?
I wonder if there's a clue there that can help me go home
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The tall Shoanti man enters the room, listening for the report, Back to the Museum, they once again have troubled a spirit they should not have. It falls again to Pathfinders to correct the problem. he shakes his head in the negative, crossing to Altavan and greeting the fellow Shoanti Pathfinder, Be welcome, my cousin! I am Kalak Sunrunner Outrider of the Sklar Quah, great honor to you. bowing deeply, I am glad we have a spirit shaman with us, this museum has vexed me in the past with its meddling in artifacts which should have been left in the first place. the large man pats his massive earthbreaker with purpose at the last, sharing his sentiment.
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Kalak completes the ritual greeting of the Shoanti with Altavan, Until our skulls are gathered. while the words impart solemn finality, he is smiling as he says the words. Turning back to the party, he asks What else do we know about this place? I have been to the Museum before, but there are words here which impart meaning that I do not understand.
where the portal goes? Sorry, I've given as much details about the portal as I could. He then turns to Kalak Nothing more, but...you've been to the Museum before? When was this? Who else has been there?
Knowledge History
10+ In the early days of Absalom, the Blakros Museum was the stronghold of an eccentric wizard. After being abandoned for centuries, it was bought by the Blakros family, who turned it into a museum for their vast collection of curios.
15+ The mad astrologer Ralzeros the Overwatched built what is now the Blakros Museum thousands of years ago as an observatory to study distant worlds (and some say, to be studied by them). He later disappeared following a mage-duel with another of Absalom’s early wizards.
Knowledge Local/Diplomacy
10+ Blakros Museum is owned by the esteemed House Blakros, an extensive clan whose family members have made their fortune by trading odd antiquities across the border of Taldor and Qadira, as well as by marrying off their beautiful daughters to wealthy nobles all around the world. They store many of their curious gifts and the findings of their more adventurous daughters in exhibits in the Blakros Museum, which they purchased for just this purpose.
15+ The Pathfinder Society is interested in forming an alliance with the Blakros family to gain access to their extensive collection of historical and arcane treasures.
20+ Many pieces in the Blakros’s collection are connected to the Dark Tapestry or other otherworldly horrors studied by Ralzeros.
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Triix makes notes to investigate this Ralzeros the Overwatched.
Why was he referred to as Mad and why is he referred to as the Overwatched? she says out loud, not really expecting an answer. He may have been just been .... misunderstood
She then turns to Kalak. Maybe I can help you with those words .... which ones?
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Nigel was in charge when I was last there, so I do know him in passing. We rescued him, there was a cursed idol from the Mwangi vastness which caused the apes around it to go mad, if I recall. It was a while ago. They had disturbed the totems of that far off place, and brought it here. Once we saved him, he gifted the Society with a Mwangi spear, a great treasure not bearing the spirits of their land. the Shoanti shares with VC Dreng.
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A young Varisian woman quietly picks up Dreng's scattered papers and, after a brief glance, replaces them on his stack as she listens attentively to his introduction.
She is dressed in bright purple & red dancing scarves made of heavy silk & reinforced with leather strips which flutter and flow as she moves with an unnatural - one would almost say Elven - grace. Her only visible weapons are a starknife and sling. She seems quiet and reserved, and has an air of intellectualism about her.
"A few years ago I assisted matriarch Hamaria in breaking a centuries-old pact with the denizens of the Plane of Shadow to save her twin daughters, Michellia & Eleanir from the fate of their sister Sarnia - a life of servitude at the hands of the Onyx Alliance. I do not recall if I met Nigel at that time or not."
Nigel is standing outside the Museum.
Nigel Aldain has a disturbed expression, but looks slightly relieved now that help is at hand. “Thank the gods you’re finally here. It would appear something quite bizarre has happened to my new Pathfinder-turned-assistant, Anumet Akrostera, while we were researching the key to the newly discovered portal beneath the museum. I had warned Anumet that many corners of the museum hold mysteries that, as of yet, have never been looked into, but I’m afraid something got to him all the same, as the last time yesterday I saw him he was acting quite strangely, and he failed to return today. I fear something evil in the attics of the museum may have cursed him.”
He looks over at Kalak. Well, yes in the attic is a good start, but I don't know where. You might be able to follow his trails in the dust. Hope you don't mind getting dirt as the attic is filthy.
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Triix half bows to Nigel, making sure her hat doesn't fall off.
It's an honour to meet you Mister Nigel sir. Your museum, it is SO full of wonders. Triix visits whenever she can to study. Did you know it used to belong to an astronomer wizard? Triix would love to find out more about him. Maybe an exhibit about Ralzeros could be done perhaps?
She pauses to get on track.
Attic... ooooh ... that sound SO interesting. More marvels to look at ... who cares about dust when there are things to be discovered ... erm ... including your assistant too sir .... heh Triix shouldn't get sidetracked hehe
She starts looking a bit embarrased.
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Valentina's lips purse distastefully as though tasting something sour when they discuss how dusty the attic is. I knew it was a mistake to skip Prestidigitation.
She absentmindedly picks at her beautiful scarves as she asks "Can you be more specific as to exactly how he was acting out of his usual demeanor? It might help us determine the nature of the curse, or... whatever it was." Perhaps he simply did not care for the working conditions you provided.
In response to Teke's question, she shuffles through her bag momentarily, but apparently finds nothing useful as she shakes her head. "Not I."
Asking questions he doesn't know how to respond to, he is unable to give you a straight answer, he doesn't quite understand the question or know what to say, so just shrugs his shoulders with an I don't know.
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Valentina is obviously irritated by Nigel's lack of response to her question. "How can you possibly say Anumet was 'acting quite strangely' yet you're incapable of describing HOW he was acting out of the norm? Was he more or less talkative than usual? Easily startled? Speaking in tongues? Blue? What was out of the norm that made you suspicious in the first place? Or did you only realize that belatedly, after he disappeared?" Seems highly suspicious and duplicitous to me.
You get into the building and find the traps. Roll disable device
He looks back at Valentina with confused look, Gee, I don't know, that is why I'm sending you all.
Reeking of vermin droppings, sagging walkways and cramped stairwells connect the museum’s winding upper levels. Stifling heat fills the sealed-off rooms and crannies, and cracked and rotten boards pop and creak at the slightest touch. Dry-rotted debris lies heaped atop broken furniture and shattered crates in the long-disused chambers. Boot prints make an uncertain and winding trail through the thick dust on the attic’s floors.
Teke is able to easily disable the Rotten Walkway by reinforcing it, so nobody collapses.
Beneath the walkway you notice n old record book fallen 20 feet below the rickety walkway. It chronicles House Blakros’s dealings in Osirion, including several incidents where family members undermined Pathfinder interests in the area.
Teke does notice the haunt in the next room and knows how to disable it.
Strange, organic-looking patterns wind across the walls and ceiling of this chamber, and the stone walls look as though they had grown winding tendrils that enshroud the area. At the chamber’s center stands a massive, rust-covered device of gears and arms about fifteen feet across. The end of each arm supports a different colored sphere. Strange projections and barbed arrows point through each of the globes, their directions seemingly random. Opposite from the chamber’s entrance, a naked and clearly dead body is impaled by a rust-red arrow. The corpse faces a gray, wooden door, which stands ajar.
Teke removes Anumet’s body from theorrery and gives him a proper burial.
vs touch, but it fails to even touch him.
TreasureYou find a lot of gold and gems, but no potions or anything that can be used in game.
You get to the next room. Scattered scraps of parchment and torn bindings cover the floor of this small chamber. Scratched glyphs cover its stone walls and even span part of the ceiling. A foul reek hangs in the air, like the stench of something long dead.
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Valentina waits to examine the body before inspecting the strange device. Although she doesn't recognize the writing in the next room, she is saavy enough to go along with Altavan's attempt to distract the museum staff while Trix moves forward.
She is convinced the corpse died not from the arrow in it's chest, but from exposure to the elements cause it's nekkid.
PCs who succeed at a DC 15 Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (geography) check recognize the device as an orrery depicting Golarion’s known solar system.
A DC 10 Heal check is enough for a PC to see that something has feasted upon the corpse, devouring much of its skin and cracking the skull open to devour its contents. Anumet’s clothing and effects are nowhere to be seen. A DC 12 Knowledge (religion) check identifies the claw and bite marks covering the body as typical of a ghoul’s victims. A DC 20 Heal check reveals that Anumet’s body is partially frostbitten in places.
Qadira faction PCs will want to surreptitiously study the records kept in the museum’s
offices. A Bluff check distracts the museum staff long enough for faction members to find the names they seek.
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Kalak watches over his companions study the body and the relics discovered in the chamber, I am glad there are those here who understand these things - I prefer a simpler life, to see one's enemy and gather their skulls for my people. So he was slain by a ghoul and the cold, a strange combination that? And how are his clothes missing, is there a ghoul dressed as Anumet now?
After the Devourer of Reason consumed one of Ralzeros’s favored apprentices, the wizard magically bound his otherworldly advisor and minion within this isolated chamber. He had planned to punish it later and bend the thing to his will, but his sudden disappearance left the Devourer of Reason trapped and forgotten. Over the long years of its imprisonment, the ravenous monster scrawled its madness-induced thoughts on the walls, most of which detail revenge plots against Ralzeros. PCs who can read Aklo or who make a successful DC 25 Linguistics check can read the scrawled messages, learning the beast’s name as well as its desire to unleash further horrors from the Dark Tapestry upon Golarion, though its exact plan remains a mystery.
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Once Trix briefs them on the contents of the messages...
Val looks at the Shaman of the group, Kegdrainer, (the most likely one to have esoteric religious knowledge) and asks if there's anything unique they should be aware of about ghouls or this "Destroyer of Reason" specifically, other than general normal undead stuff.
"...it doesn't specify why he's called the 'Destroyer of Reason' in particular, does it?" she looks nervous, and starts skimming through her spellbook.