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A half-orc wanders into the room. He looks around before setting his backpack down on a bench. Hmm, this is where they said to meet the group. I must be early. I hope this group can keep out of harm's way better than the last one. That broken leg was bad.
The half-orc begins checking the items in his pack, pulling out bandages and thread for sutures, slaves, and even a splint. What he doesn't seem to have is any weapons or armor.
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A nervous looking young man in plain breeches and tunic moves into the room and looks around. He has dark hair and sallow skin, and seems to be out of place. His eyes are wide as he scans the surroundings, and every now and then he moves his hand down to still the large spell book hanging at his side from a leather strap. The book appears to be made of some green stone and seems to move on its own, twitching and fluttering its cover and pages. Finally, it broke free of the boy's grasp and fluttered into the air, the strap coming off the young man's shoulder.
"Hey, come back here!"
The book didn't appear to listen to him heading for the rafters, so he sheepishly looked around at everyone.
"It does that sometimes. But, it'll come back when it's bored. I'm Bertram Bertinelli, but you can call me Bert. Everyone does."
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"So long as no one calls you Bert-Bert, ey? Heehee!" A short, plump elderly human woman with short, curly white hair and rosy cheeks bustles into the room just in time to hear Bert's introduction (but too late to know about the book). "I'm Mrs. Crinkle, dearies. Would you like a candy?" She pulls a few hard candies (with only a tiny bit of pocket lint stuck to them) from the pocket of her absolutely ridiculously over-sized red sweater dress. It is tied up in bunches around her body so she doesn't trip on it or fall out of it, making her look vaguely like a mutant octopus with short, pudgy tentacles. The glint of chain mail peeks through its gaps. Slung across her back are a backpack, a rather large sack, a steel shield, and a war flail, of all things. How she manages to carry all that is a small wonder.
You have arrived at the Nexus House in Quantium, Nex. Venture-Captain Sebnet Sanserkoht excitedly greets you at the entrance and ushers you into a small meeting room.
Closing the door behind her, the brown-skinned gnome with golden streaks through her long, dark hair crosses the room in a few long strides and leans against a stool, grinning wryly. Atop the stool sits a skull with glowing pink eyes. “Good, good you’re all here. I’m vash-vatom Sebnet Sanserkoht, or venture-captain, if you prefer. I have someone I need to introduce you all to before we get to the rest of the briefing.” She gestures towards the skull beside her, “This here, is Alyreha, one of Nex’s arclords. We recently dispatched a team of agents that assisted her in recovering her lost memories.”
Alyreha shakes and rattles before Sebnet is allowed to continue. “That’s right! I up and lost my head, but your society helped me put the pieces of it back together. But in turn, I also remembered why I lost it in the first place. See, I was doing research on true names and had just hit a breakthrough, but someone else wanted to get a hold of my work to use for some sort of evil plan. Needless to say, I didn’t agree with that, and tried to lock away my research by erasing memory of myself until the time was right to let my studies out.”
Sebnet finally cuts back in, “And now that her memories have been restored, it’s likely that the rest of her research can be as well. So that’s where you all come in. We want to you to take Alyreha and go to her former manor, to find the pieces of her research and restore her true name before anyone else finds her old notes.”
Sebnet hands you two letters and asks in you have any questions.
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Bert looks up as his spellbook flaps down and hovers over his shoulder as he joins the huddle to read the two letters. He has an inkling of what the book is interested in and manages to catch it by the strap at it lunged for one of the letters. "No. You. Don't." he said as he pulled it back. "At least let the others read it first."
"Sorry about that. It likes to eat paper, especially paper with writing on it. I can call back anything it eats to read later, if it helps."
Bertram kept the book clamped shut as he turned to the vash-vatom and Alyreha the skull. "Um, this true-name magic. Is it something anyone can learn? Or is it limited to certain proclivities? I know some forms of magic are more universally available than others. What you said, and these letters, make it sound very dangerous ifthe wrong hands got ahold of it, but isn't any magic dangerous at high enough levels? What makes this so specifically worrisome?"
"And why do you need us to escort Arclord Alyreha anyways? Couldn't anyone just go to her house and find her things?"
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Desmond leans over to look at the skull before it comes to life. "Whoa, you are not a medical exemplar!" He listens to the briefing with a inquisitive look on his face. "And you hired a medic for this? Seems like someone is worried this will turn bad..."
He shrugs and reads the two letters. He pauses as he finishes Fola's. "Huh, maybe a smart move."
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As Alyreha finishes speaking, Mrs. Crinkle exclaims: "Oooo dearie! That must've been dreadful! Well, don't you worry. We'll take you on over there and get your research back--no problem!"
"Sorry about that. It likes to eat paper, especially paper with writing on it. I can call back anything it eats to read later, if it helps."
Mrs. Crinkle's eyes glint mischievously. "You don't say, dearie?" I need to go buy a writing kit. Heehee!
She waits until everyone else has read the letters, then scans them. Yup, sounds about right. "Everybody finished with these? Should we give the book a snicky-snack? Ooo! It's just like having a puppy! Does it poop? Heehee!"
Alyreha says “Well, I mean I am an exceptionally powerful wizard so there’s all kinds of magic in my old manor. But don’t worry I haven’t let all that power,” she pauses for effect, “go to my head!” She waits for laughter, only continuing once Sebnet clears her throat. “Anyway, I don’t expect any of that to be too much trouble to any of you. Since all memory of me was erased until recently, I suspect it’s just been abandoned all this time. The only thing I would worry about is if someone tried in break in there during all this time, there might be one or two of my magical defenses active, but there shouldn’t be too much of a problem, especially with how magically warded I made sure to keep the place.”
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A burly lizardman comes rushing up, panting for breath. "Sorry I'm late - musta overslept again goshdarnit - but I'm here now and ready to help - what needs bashing?" He pauses as he realizes that the group are engaged in a rather delicate conversation with a skull of substance and refinement. "Oh um beggin' yer pardon. What I mean to say is: at yer service." He starts to wipe sweat from his brow before realizing that, as a lizardfolk he probably doesn't sweat, and instead takes the opportunity to loosen the gorget on his full plate mail and shift the weight of the two steel shields he is carrying. "Oh there I go with my rotten manners again - Razzm's the name, Razzm Tazzm for those with the patience to say it. Most pleased to meetcha!"
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"And can you fly, dearie, or do you prefer that someone carries you?" Mrs. Crinkle asks, trying to hide how much it would tickle her to carry around a talking skull, chatting with it all the while. (And innocently sticking a finger up the base hole to see if it feels weird in the empty brain cavity, what with all the magic going on in there. Will it tickle Alyreha too?)
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"I am sorry I am late." says a very wiry elf, with very pale skin and long white hair. He carries a very small black cat in his hands, and he wears a big leather cross-body bag just to house his cat.
"I am Mas Radikal. We just finished an assignment at the Blakros Museum at Absalom. Demon cultists I'm afraid. We barely survived. I was asked to follow here for my next assignment."
Once the Pathfinders are done being impressed by Alyreha, the arclord leads them to her manor. It is a half hour walk, and you can shop on your way if you so desire.
You can see both its unusual shape and signs of active magic within. It is 30 feet tall, while a small section of the southern ceiling rises above into a tower shape, another 40 feet above the second floor. Flashing multicolored magical lights shine through the windows and energy visibly pulses out from the building, seeping into the surrounding area.
Alyreha rattles in concern, “You see that, Pathfinders? My manor was once filled with numerous magical experiments. To keep it safe from thieves and intruders I had it covered in wards, keeping all of the magic sealed with its walls. Something, or more likely someone, has broken several of the wards. Quickly now, get me inside! It’s safe to enter the building for now, but if too many more of the wards are compromised, uncontrolled magical energy could surge out into the city streets, People could die if we let that happen!”
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"Ooo, that would be dreadful! Heehee! Well, dearie, did you hide a key under the doormat, or are we going to have to break in? I'm not so good at picking locks myself, and I'd hate to break your door to pieces." Mrs. Crinkle gabs as she hustles the skull in her arms up to the front stoop. Before she steps onto it, she pauses. "Any traps here, dearie?"
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Bertram was fascinated by the wards he could see from the manor's exterior, the looping whorls and geometric lines had him entranced. It wasn't until Desmond asked if they were going to help that he realized someone had been saying something.
"What? Help? Of course. I mean, that's why we're here, right? To save the day and learn stuff and share...right?"
Bertram went back to studying the wards on the front door. His spellbook seemed to be contentedly chewing on something, probably one of the notes from the faction leaders, hanging gently from Bert's shoulder on the leather strap.
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While everyone's looking at the door, Mrs. Crinkle balances Alyreha on her head, pulls out her writing kit, and hastily scribbles some nonsense on a scrap of paper. Hoping no one noticed, she stuffs the writing kit back in her pack, grabs Alyreha off her head, and nonchalantly offers the scrap of paper to Bert's book. She stifles a giggle, then puts on an angelically innocent expression.
A private tutor!"
Alyreha curses at Mrs. Crinkle in a variety of languages, many of which may be lost and/or made up. She tries to suppress a chuckle as she sees what the barbarian is writing, though. The skull indicates that, as ar as she knows, it will be safe to open the door.
The eastern wall of this elegant foyer displays a statue of Nex, covered in a wide array of multicolored runes. Several other runes and lines of magical energy, seeming to originate from other parts of the house, coalesce in a strange magical circle surrounding the statue’s base. The statue’s left hand holds a staff that lights up in apparently random sequences of color. Glowing runes on the rest of the walls shimmer, spin, and spill out into the adjoining rooms. Flashes of mystical lights going off in other parts of the house are visible underneath the doorways. A deep thrumming sound can be heard throughout, though its source cannot be determined.
Alyreha’s eyes glow a vibrant red and flash in disbelief at the sight before her. “Oh goodness, it’s worse in here than I thought! I don’t think I can permanently repair the wards here without significant time and a look at my old notes. However, my statue of Nex is supposed to be the focal point—as well as being a lovely bit of décor—so if you place me over there on top of it, I should be able to keep the magical bleed from getting any worse. That’ll buy you all some time to look around and find what we need! But be careful, Pathfinders, I suspect with how terrible this damage is that it may be deliberate, and someone has a trap waiting for you.
“I keep backup copies of the more important notes of my true name research around the manor, hidden by magic and defenses that only I had keys to surpass. It’s likely that all this damage to the wards has been done to reveal my hidden research. Thankfully, that shouldn’t deactivate the rest of the defenses I put into place, which was hopefully enough to scare our thieves off. But that will mean that whatever they didn’t manage to overcome, you all will have to do so, as I no longer have my relics to deactivate the defenses, and it would take more time than we have to make new ones for each room. I’m counting on you all to find whatever notes you can and make your way upstairs, but don’t fret if one of the challenges seems impossible for you all. I’m still a highly skilled wizard, after all. I put my notes together in such a way that not every single part is needed to piece the research back together. Oh! And feel free to take any useful items you find. You can even keep them. After all, as I am, they’re not exactly going to be any good in my hands!” She laughs at her joke before turning her focus to the wards.
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Bertram moved to take a look at the statue of Nex before grabbing his spellbook and opening it to take some notes. Instead of a quill and ink, he simply drew in the book with his finger and writing appeared. He copied runes and glyphs, making sure to notate everything he could.
As Alyreha spoke of magical traps and artifacts they could use, Bert kept one ear open, but his initial focus was on the magical runes. I wonder if Alyreha would take me on as an apprentice. Surely a skull locked in a vault for years wouldn't have heard about my disgrace?
Aloud he said, "Someone did this deliberately? Yes, they would almost have had to. You can can see the power disruption here, here, and here."
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Alyreha curses at Mrs. Crinkle in a variety of languages, many of which may be lost and/or made up.
Mrs. Crinkle's eyes light up. "Ooo dearie! I'll have to remember some of those! Heehee!"
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Once inside, Mrs. Crinkle's eyes widen as her mouth hangs agape. "It's like I've eaten those mushrooms again! I had no idea magic was so trippy! Heehee! So: Don't touch the glowy bits or we'll get blown to bits, right? I'll just let you magicky folks go first, and you let me know if you need some muscle, okay dearies?" That last bit sounds incongruous coming from someone who looks like a petite Mrs. Claus.
Bert finds approximately all the auras. Picking something out here is going to be a major challenge.
Once in the manor, Alyreha is better able to answer a Pathfinder inquiry from earlier.
“Well, my divination lounge had the ability to scry on the outside of the manor, as well as see into some of the other rooms. I also had my upstairs evocation atrium set up to summon in aspects of the elemental planes. There were probably some other things, but it’s been a while and I’m not sure what all is working anymore. And what’s been tampered with by our previous intruders.”
Mas finds nothing unusual about the statue.
The skull says, "To get to the divination lounge, use the doors to the left, but ignore the stairs you see. You'll need to go past them and then through another set of double doors to the north. You'll have to pass through my abjuration display room to get there, though."
Opening the indicated door, you do indeed see a stairwell up in front of you, along with two doors leading to the east in the same hallway. Further north, you see the edges of display cases along the north wall, though you cannot see into them, as well as a raised platform at the end of the room.
This display room contains numerous magical weapons, jewelry items, tomes, crystals, and other baubles. To the north and south, 8 different cabinets with indentations display 8 separate items, 7 of which are surrounded by a blue orb with lines of electricity running across it. On top of the cabinet furthest to the southeast, a charred and unrecognizable item lies in place of one of the orbs.
Each alcove contains an item surrounded by a magical barrier with a different rune on each.
The item is very charred and very unrecognizable.
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"Oh! These look like ward locks. And someone has already managed to misuse one. let me look here..."
Bert studied the items and the runes closely, tracing their lines with his eyes, but careful not to touch any of them. Finally, he straightened up and looked around.
"Okay, here goes nothing..."
As he reached out to deactivate the first ward, his spellbook lunged off his shoulder for one of the items, a scroll with glowing blue runes. Bert barely managed to catch it and toss it back behind him before taking a deep breath and trying again.
"Okay, here we go...again."
Bertram starts messing around with one of the cabinets. He gets a small shock before realizing that he misread one of the runes, and quickly fixes his error. The cabinet opens, and a portion of Alyreha's research is within.