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Bernina praises Juki and helps Imrizade recover and return. "Thanks, everyone! I've learned a lot." Bernina has no job at present. She supplements her Pathfinder earnings with some hunting trips, but considers putting out a shingle as a wilderness guide or perhaps as a gardener to earn some extra coin between Pathfinder missions. I would like to make a wisdom roll to see if she can earn a goal on her Grand Lodge results page: Forgo your Downtime to finalize a report to the Pathfinder Society. Doing so requires a successful DC 15 Intelligence, Widom, or Profession (Scribe) check.
She humbly accepts the critique on her report and vows to make improvements.
Bernina moves closer and fires off an arrow, not wanting to hurt Imrizade, she tries to hit one of the appendages, instead.
"Cut her free from those tentacles and maybe it will free her from its control." Bernina gives Juki the command to attack the cords connected to Imrazide and the lynx races at full speed toward the steps. to get Juki to attack the cords attached to the woman.
If she can trip Imrizade, she will attempt it.
The parchment contains some of Imrizade’s notes as well as sketches and diagrams of the Gate of Beyond and something she refers to as a "brain canister" that she found in Osirion. It appears that she intends to use this item to open a portal of some kind, by attaching it to a "gate," and the revelation that destroying the cylinder while it is attached to the "gate" will demolish the portal as well. "Let's at least look inside the box to see if it contains that brain canister thingy. Imrizade's notes said that attaching the canister to the gate would open it but destroying it would close the gate. We need to go through the gate to find her if we can, get back out and close the gate. Sound like a plan?."
Bernina cuts across in front of Copper and Flyn to gain a position with a clear shot at the door and leaving Flyn with a clear shot as well. Although the room is cool, sweat dampens her face and neck. "If more than one thing comes through the door," she says to Flyn, "you take the one on the left and I'll go for the one on the right." As silence falls save for the soft clink of Alya's tools, nervous energy gets the best of Bernina and she quips, "I'm going to go out on a limb here and bet that whatever is behind that curtain is responsible for all this trouble."
Bernina wakes up to pain, then less pain, as healing spells work their mysterious magic. Juki licks her face and she sits up, embarrassed but determined to carry on. "Thank you all. Thought I was drinking the bottom dregs of Halcamora's jug on that one. I'll use my wand on the next person who needs it. Now," she says, standing and readying her bow with a cold iron arrow, "What have we here?"
Bernina gasps as she finds herself in free fall. Oddly unemotional, she notes the looks of concern on the faces of her comrades as they shrink into a point of light. She feels oddly at peace. Her last thought is regret that she may never get to tell her father face to face what a jerk he was for leaving her mother pregnant. Then pain and all fades to black.
Bernina looks at the slippery steps and pulls out her 50 feet of silk rope and suggests tying the rope to something solid and having everyone keep the rope in hand in case of accidents. Although she tries hard to step carefully, she is not the most graceful person and when her foot slips out from under her, she grabs for the rope and tries to hold on.
Bernina breaks off her investigation into the pile of bones under the yellow musk creeper to join the others as they prepare to go further into the museum that was feeling more and more like a crypt or a catacomb. With her bow ready, she peers into the room and immediately recognizes the mushroom in the room. She readies a shot, murmuring just loudly enough for Narayan to hear, "Step back a bit, please; you're blocking my shot." As the seconds creep by, she adds, "Remember there may be brown mold in there. Those other colors are probably just as dangerous."
Bernina nods as the combined attacks eliminate the strange plant before it can add to the pile of bones at its roots. "Good teamwork, all. Lady Qill, you'll have to tell me what you know about this thing when we have more time. For now, any idea what a man-eating plant would be doing in a storage room with its doors blocked from the inside?" As Bernina listens to Lady Qill's response, she disentangles the plant's roots from the bones, trying to find evidence of the identity of the remains.
Bernina slips into the room and studies the plant as she draws an arrow from her quiver, but cannot tell what it is. She hopes an arrow in it will draw some sap out at least. At this range, she usually does well.
Juki follows and jumps up on some barrels, waiting the order to attack. Bernina does not want to send her companion in until she can tell what kind of threat it presents.
After Lady de Qill describes her interpretation of the notes, Bernina shakes her head and murmurs, "Why oh why do people like Imrizade insist on probing dark powers that are so far removed from Golarian that they can't possibly mean us well when all around us are wonders of nature? I'll take a forest filling up with snow over a creepy skeleton-animating thing from another dimension any day. So anyway, I suppose this means Imri may have opened this gate and dark things are finding their way in. Let's keep an eye out for that canister and smash it before it lets anything else in."
Bernina's lips curl as she regards the corpse. "Hope he was dead before that acid took his legs." She takes a deep breath before approaching closer, kneeling and poking at the body, hoping to learn something about the cause of death or the source of the mold.
"Mmmmn. Looks like brown mold. If you feel a cold draft, look sharp."
Before attacking, Bernina brings to her mind the grace and dexterity of the tiger. For a moment, her eyes gleam golden and faint black stripes can be seen on her face. Then she looks normal again. Bernina plants her feet in a stable position, drawing an arrow to her bow string. She inhales, draws the string back to the fullest, pauses, waiting for the best moment, and lets the arrow fly.
Listening to Bernina, she adds, "I'm probably better at the front as well, but I can hang back as necessary. I just want to keep my eyes peeled. You never know what's going on in a place like this." "Flexiblity is key." Bernini affirms, gripping her quarterstaff and standing near the west door. While waiting, she looks at the nearby exhibit specimens as Juki sniffs the air and looks into dimly lit spaces, wanting an excuse to explore. Bernina
Bernina puts her wand back in the sheath she had made for it so she would not have to rummage in her pack for it if she needs it in battle and nods her thanks at Flyn. "Let's hope we won't need to, but I'll use my wand the next time one is needed. Spread the cost of battle around." As discussion of how to approach the next room gets under way, Bernina says, "I'm not shy about rushing into danger, but it seems that Flyn and Narayan are perhaps the best ones to enter rooms first. I am willing to be in the second rank where I can adapt to the situation. I can shoot my bow or wade in with a weapon or attempt some kind of magical aid, although my spell options are very limited. I'm also not very fast on my feet. I can also send Juki in to flank with someone if that will help. She's much faster than me."
Bernina rushes in only to be too late for the party. Then she notices Copper is injured. Bernina pulls out a wand and offers, "'Twas a brave charge you made. May I help with those wounds?"
She then calls Juki over to her and gives the room a glance. "Might be some interesting things in this mess, but doesn't look like anything that would account for a missing researcher. Let's move on. Some kind of foul magic is likely afoot, however, ... 'less ancient skeletons routinely animate down here. Look sharp."
Bernina makes no comments once down in the basement, focused on being ready for a fight. Bernina tells Juki to stay back and advances with her quaterstaff ready, getting to just behind Copper saying to her, "You and I may be short but by golly we should NOT be underestimated."
Bernina smiles and waves at Tam, happy to see one more added to the number. She notices an odd fact: half of the group is very tall, over six feet while the other half is around five feet or under. "A few things you should know about me," she offers. "I'm pretty good in a fight. I'm about equally good with weapons as with my bow, unless I cast gravity bow, which makes my arrows extra dangerous. I know a few spells. I can provide light, water, and a few others that are mostly useful in the wild. I have a wand that I can use to cure light wounds. Anyone who needs healing, I'm happy to put it to use. And in a pinch, for a short time, I can take on the aspect of an animal to help me become better at certain things. I can see in the dark like a bat or climb like a monkey, swim like a frog. That kind of thing. And Juki and I make a good team, flanking opponents and such. She can sometimes trip those she bites and can be very effective against small creatures like herself." "Is there anything I should know about your special abilities?"
Bernina greets each Pathfinder as each introduced himself or herself. She silently reviews each name in her head to make sure she remembers them all. Then she notes she is the only human. It feels strange to be a minority after living in Taldor all her life and mostly dealing with other humans. But that was one of the things that appealed to her about the Pathfinders: they seemed to be pulled from so many different places, races, and cultures. So far, as a Pathfinder she had not yet left Absalom but she felt she had already been to so many exotic places. She listened up as Lady Qill started her briefing. She knew so little about Absalom and its people she felt kind of self-conscious, like a new student at a university. So much to learn.
Just before the briefing begins, a short woman wearing hide armor and somewhat overburdened with a variety of weapons, including nice composite bow, hurries in, somewhat breathless. "I just got word about a new assignment... Huff, huff. Got here as fast as I could. I'm Bernina Singer.... Huff, huff." She speaks with a Taldane accent. She is barely 5 feet tall with curly brown-red hair tied into a pony-tail, green eyes (as in clover green, very striking), and skin that looks as if it prefers to burn rather than tan. Her pretty face is freckled and her clothes are marked by some burrs. She wears a broach with a jug overflowing with wine, the holy symbol of Halcamora. A sprig of holly adorns her hair on one side of her forehead. Trailing her slightly is a lynx who remains quietly by her side during the briefing. After the initial briefing statement, Bernina asks, "I've been in this museum before. Are there any creatures or dangerous artifacts we should know about in the basement?" After the briefing, Bernina says, "Well, this will be the second time I've helped bail one of the Blakros daughters out of a jam, well two daughters, actually. We went into the museum and were transported into the realm of shadow. Nasty stuff in that parallel museum. Hope none of that is back. I understand you all were in there before as well, or at least some of you. I remember reading about it when I did a little follow-up research on the family; read the chronical describing your admirable work dealing with another dangerous artifact dragged back from Garund. Can't anyone bring back nice artifacts that turn spoiled fruit into delicious frozen drinks?" She shuts up when she notices others exchanging wary glances and realizes she is talking too much, a habit when she is nervous. Once conversation about the mission dies down, she points to the lynx and says, "This is Juki. She's been with me a while now. Don't worry, she's house trained, although she doesn't spend much time in houses; neither do I for that matter. I much prefer the outdoors, gardens, that kind of thing."
I have a lot of 1st level PFS characters who need just 1 xp to level up to 2nd. So if Bernina doesn't fit well, I have other classes in 1st tier range I could run. 1) Bernina is a 1st level Hunter
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