Spring is in the air of Absalom, the City at the Center of the World, and the great metropolis rumbles with activity; overloaded caravans clatter into the Coins District, majestic ships sail into the harbor and boisterous crowds fill the streets to enjoy the first warm day of spring.
From the gates of the Grand Lodge, young Pathfinder Society pages hurry forth to deliver letters...
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Bruno's bruised and bloodied hand wipes the sweat from his brow, smearing a streak of crimson on his forehead. His foe, a massive half-orc with sharpened tusks, turns to rowdy crowd of sailors circling them on the barge's deck and roars. The deckhands cheer and crowd in. The circle tightens.
The half-orc bellows. "ANY LAST WORDS PINKSKIN!?!"
Bruno smiles.
"Bruno grapple."
Corisar is met at the gates of the Grand Lodge by a fresh-faced half-elf. Unable to make eye contact, he stops nervously at a respectful distance. He attempts to cast Mage Hand and fails. He tries again. Finally, his face red, he marches up and offers an envelope to the Elven wizard. He barely waits for Corisar to take the envelope from his hand before running back into the lodge.
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Master Calathes arrives at the library. The librarian nods solemnly at the tall martial master and slides a book across the counter to him, then walks away silently. The book is not anything that Calathes had reserved. It is titled For Dramatic Effect. When he opens it, he finds blank pages, and an envelope tucked in the center.
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Bruno accepts the bejeweled belt from the tournament's master of ceremonies. A trainer is screaming obscenities at the champion while he fruitlessly waves smelling salts under the nose of a very unconscious half-orc. As Bruno holds the belt up, he sees an envelope affixed to its back.
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Liam, Payj, and Ober are finishing up their meal at Aroden's Harold Steakhouse. Their server hands Liam the check folder. Inside is a note from Harold, the owner: "No charge. May the Light of the Sword be with you always." There is also an envelope.
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Leto stands in the temple of Saranrae, manning the offertory as the choir performs a hymn, "In the Bulb there is a Dawnflower." A young page drops a handful of silver pieces into the plate that Leto is holding, then deftly slides an envelope between the plate and Leto's hand. Before Leto can react, she's gone.
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In Mendev, Torquil arrives back to camp, caked in the blood of demons. He unstraps his bow from his back and sees an envelope peeking out from the pillow on his bedroll. As he picks it up, a page leads two horses to the door of his tent.
---
All the letters say the same thing:
"A courier teleported in from Korvosa and specifically asked for you and several other esteemed Pathfinders by name. Aram and Kreighton took the usual precautions and found nothing suspicious or diabolical. She awaits your audience at the Grand Lodge.
-Ambrus"
Eath-Corisar, Calathes, Bruno, Leto and Liam arrive in turn to an ante-chamber deep within the Grand Lodge. Once the last of you arrives, a door opens. Inside this private meeting room you find an immaculately dressed courier sitting in an Old Taldan-style chair. She turns to each of you and nods.
"I am Orryn and I come bearing personal invitations from Acadamae headmaster Toff Ornelos to participate in the Breaching Festival.
"I believe Master Torquil will be joining us as soon as he arrives from Mendev, should he accept his invitation."
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Bruno crumples the letter and throws it in the squalid harbor waters.
Stinking of stale sweat and fresh blood, Bruno strides away from the barge.
A sailor yells out, "You forgot your belt!"
Bruno turns.
"Bruno no forget." He turns to the Master of Ceremonies. "Bruno come back for it if Venture Captain Ollystra keep hearing rumors about children being press ganged."
The sailors fall silent.
"Ollystra have good ears. And Bruno..." Bruno clenches his fists, sending Lissalan tattoos squirming across his forearms. "...Bruno have strong hands."
Pale and sweating, the Master of Ceremonies nods.
"Good."
The crowd of sailors part before Bruno as leaves the docks for the Grand Lodge.
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"I believe Master Torquil will be joining us as soon as he arrives from Mendev, should he accept his invitation."
Bruno nods towards his fellow pathfinders.
"Bruno not big on parties. Bruno not often even invited...but that neither here nor there. What is a breaching festival? And what is the Acadamae?"
Orryn seems surprised, "You've not heard of either?"
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Liam nods to Harold, and puts a few gold coins on the table.
"Payj, I must beg your forgiveness, the Society calls. Ober, Payj is in charge while I'm gone."
The pair nod, Payj stands up and hugs her little brother, while Ober stands and nods.
"Take care Liam," She says with a frown. "I'll pray nightly to the Inheritor for your safe return."
Eath'Corisar's arcane studies have lent him some familiarity with the Academae, the Breaching Festival, and headmaster Toff Ornelos:
The Acadamae is a wizard's college in the Varisian city of Korvosa which attracts students from as far away as distant Geb. Although it teaches all eight modern schools of magic, it specializes in conjuration, and requires its pupils to pass a difficult exam in conjuration in order to graduate. Part university and part wizard school, the Acadamae has had numerous prestigious headmasters through the years, with its current one, Toff Ornelos, being one of Varisia’s most powerful arcanists.
Each year, as spring turns to summer, the Acadamae of Korvosa holds the Breaching Festival: a carnival-like day on which a dozen hopefuls try to enter the famed magical university’s Hall of Wards by whatever means they can, and in doing so earn extravagant wealth, magical might, and the praise and admiration of an entire city. Every year, both Acadamae students and adventures participants are challenged to solve minor magical puzzles set up on the school grounds. Solving the puzzles will allow entry into the Hall of Wards...and the first to navigate its dangers and exit the Hall is declared the winner. The Breaching Festival is traditionally held on the last Sunday of the month of Desnus, when spring is in full bloom.
Corisar also notes that to his knowledge, invitations to the Breaching Festival normally come from the Dean of Abjuration, not the Acadamae’s headmaster.
Headmaster Toff Ornelos is a highly regarded wizard whose reputation as headmaster of the Acadamae has secured his fame among arcanists throughout the Inner Sea.
Finally, Corisar is aware that no one has emerged victorious from the Breaching in over a century and a half, and with the award money increasing every year the grand prize goes unclaimed, the current payout is approximately 153,000 gp.
Orryn presents each of you with a handwritten invitation.
Headmaster Toff’s invitation not only offers you a chance to take part in one of Varisia’s most talked-about yearly events, but also a chance to attend as this year’s special guests of honor.
The only catch is that the festival itself is scheduled to begin tomorrow—Toff apologizes for the lateness, but promises that you will be well paid for your time even if you don’t wish to take part in the Breaching Festival itself.
Orryn bows and pulls out a scroll.
"Headmaster Toff has spared no expense in securing your participation." She holds the scroll out, "He has asked me to teleport you directly to the Acadamae to speak with him. You are under no obligation to participate, but hopes you will hear him out."
Orryn shifts her weight awkwardly.
"So...are you willing to meet with headmaster Toff? I can teleport you if you're ready now."
"Excellent, he will be most pleased, I'm sure!"
Orryn unfurls the scroll and furrows her brow in concentration. Seconds later, you arrive in a private walled garden, the flowers blooming with the arrival of spring in Korvosa. From over the walls, you hear the hubbub of a crowd and cries of vendors hawking sweet meats, desserts and "Breachtowels"
Orryn shakes her head. "I'm sorry, usually it is much more...scholarly...on the school grounds, but with the Breaching Festival..."
Orryn escorts you inside to the headmaster’s offices in Ornelos Hall. You are only stopped once, but after you present your personalized invitations to the campus guards you are waved through. Orryn ushers you into Toff's office, steps out and closes the door behind her. Toff’s office is an austere, well-organized chamber with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a large oaken desk.
The wizened headmaster stands to welcome you, his long beard wagging slightly as he moves to shake your hands and address you.
“Welcome, and thank you for answering my invitation. As I’m sure you well know, the Breaching Festival is a longstanding Acadamae tradition, with prizes both material and magical.
"You might also know that entry in the contest is traditionally reserved for only the best and bravest of our students and a select few representatives of other Korvosan institutions. This year, though, we’re changing tradition and expanding the invitations further than ever—we want the most powerful, qualified individuals to compete.
"Your reputations far precede you as exactly the type of individuals we need."
Toff sits behind his desk.
"It has been a century and a half since the last—the only—winner of the Breaching Festival won the prize! One of you surely must bring glory to yourself and the Acadamae by enduring the traps and tricks in the Hall of Wards. I’m even willing to bend the rules to allow a team of allied competitors like yourselves to cooperate as a single unit—whatever it takes to get a winner tomorrow.”
"I understand if you have questions for me. Be assured, you are under no obligation to participate...but I hope you do so!"
He looks at you each in turn, waiting patiently for your response.
Toff nods at Corisar's questions.
"I've done plenty of research on you, on all of you, and I've chosen you specifically because I know you will succeed."
Champions of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Venture Captains. If any were suited to the Breaching Festival, it is this group standing before me."
Toff sighs heavily.
"It would also be more than nice to have someone win the damned contest while I’m still headmaster.”
"While it is true that this invitation is perhaps a break in decorum, no rules have been broken. There can still be only one winner of the festival--the first to exit from the Hall of Wards. How you work that out among yourselves is your own affair."
Liam listens carefully to the headmaster's responses, looking for hints for any hidden motives.
"How far has the most successful breacher ever made it and what was their specialty?"
"Back in 4551, a man named Dyson Fordyce—who is the only winner to date— managed to step into the Hall of Wards and just as quickly step back out, winning on a technicality. Since then, the Breaching Festival has required entry into the Hall of Wards by one door and exit from one on the opposite side of the building.
"He was an illusionist, if I recall correctly."
'Scribble'
"Why do you wish the tournament won so badly."
'Erase'
“No one’s won the festival for over a century and a half, and that’s far too long a stretch for a school that produces some of Golarion’s most skilled wizards. Frankly, it makes us look bad.”
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"Makes you look bad," Liam says with a raised eyebrow.
"If anything it increases the reputation of your Academe. Wards off potential thieves. In fact, a crack team of Pathfinders being able to break into your Hall of Wards and walk away alive seems to be the exact opposite of what I would want to happen, if I were in charge," Liam steps a little closer to the Headmaster. "And what has happened to those who fail? Are we walking into a death trap?"
"Makes you look bad," Liam says with a raised eyebrow.
"If anything it increases the reputation of your Academe. Wards off potential thieves. In fact, a crack team of Pathfinders being able to break into your Hall of Wards and walk away alive seems to be the exact opposite of what I would want to happen, if I were in charge," Liam steps a little closer to the Headmaster. "And what has happened to those who fail? Are we walking into a death trap?"
"No. You are walking into a series of death traps.
"Just as you say, the Breaching Festival grew out of our Hall of Wards’ claim that their traps and defenses were so great that no thief could breach them. While we do enjoy our reputation, it has had a chilling effect on the Festival. There was a time when dozens would test themselves. After a century and a half without a victor, the number of contestants has understandably dwindled. Of the handful that competed last year, only one even managed to enter the Hall of Wards. This year there are only four other contestants besides yourselves.
"To answer your first question, the dangers that contestants face are lethal. We do our best to follow their wishes with respect to what remains of their remains.
"In the end, you’re better judges of your own capabilities than I. If you feel that my research and estimation of your chances are overly generous, then I’ll simply have to find a more capable team to make history tomorrow.”
(Liam senses that Toff's desire for you to succeed is genuine)
"As a matter of fact, one of this year's contestants is a student teacher here. But you'll have a chance to meet your competition later. That is, should you wish to compete..."
"The competition begins tomorrow at 7am. We will, of course, provide housing for you this evening in the student quarters. You'll be able to meet the other contestants there.
"Orryn will be your guide on the school grounds and escort you to your lodgings. She will answer any further questions that you may have about the Breaching Festival. While you do not have to participate, it is my hope you do. Please let me know as soon as you decide one way or the other--the Festival begins at 7am tomorrow morning."
Orryn swings open the office door and waits for the party to exit.
Then a bunch of stuff happened...
Calathes' punch drops the the Devourer Valshune to the floor. It is dead, but the twisted face of Maganrad still screams silently from within its chest.
Nagxiv dies an incredibly slow and boring death as the acid in the pit occasionally penetrates his barbed hide. Plus you probably hit him with swords and things.
Eventually his body rises to you as the pit disappears.
On Valshune you find a Type IV bag of holding
A cloak of protection +2
A spellbook (with a note inside reading: If found, return to Maganrad, Hall of Charms, The Academae, Korvosa)
400 gp in miscellaneous equipment and valuables
On Nagxiv you find only one item: a copy of the same contract you found in Maganrad's bloodied robe.
Feel free to move yourselves around and let me know when you're ready to open a door.
Corisar hears quite a bit of commotion: a flurried fluttering of paper, a constant clattering, and the sound of footsteps scrambling around the room.
He detects no magic and believes the door to be untrapped.