Shattered Star

"I doubt someone of my skill set would have been chosen if there wasn't some blood to be shed." The gnoll rolls their neck with a crack, "But I doubt it's all killing, otherwise you probably wouldn't have been chosen."

"For my own sake I'd hope so," Cade agrees with a nervous grin.  "Truthfully, my strengths lie more in ancient scripts and histories, not with steel and sinew."  Looking over his shoulder at the other two--now three--people gathered in the foyer, Cade continues blithely "And what of them?  Do you suppose they've also been invited by Lady Heidmarch for this enigmatic endeavor?"

Ali looks past Cade to the other three. One at least looks to be a competent fighter. "One seems to be. Unfortunately, 'm thinking all of them are as well."

Cade glances back at the grizzled gnoll with an eyebrow raised in puzzled surprise.  "...Well, if Lady Heidmarch invited them like she has us, then I trust her judgement.  She mentioned in her letter she was forming a 'specialized team,' so she has most likely chosen the candidates she has for a reason."  Looking back at the three, Cade adds on "Have you spoken to any of them yet?"

"I see," Cade nods absently.  Looking around the foyer and noticing that the three others were still mid-conversation, Cade pauses.  "Well, I hope our conversation was enjoyable, at least.  We'll most likely have more opportunities to talk later on," he continued, "so I think I'll go and introduce myself to those three over there while we're still waiting... if I can, that is."

"You fill me with delight at your words, Ana," Erron says, nonplussed by the comment and questions. "Do remember, should either of you lovely ladies fancy a drink and a chat, I'm always available."

"I'd sooner throw myself into the sun," Anastasia responds flatly.

"Certainly not the first time I've heard that," Erron says with a wink. "Someday, you'll come around, Ana,"

"Thank you for coming," booms an unusually deep female voice. The woman it belongs to is nearly as imposing. Sheila Heidmarch walks into the room tall and proud, adorned in glorious blue and green finery which somehow has spots for various weapons and potions that hang at her sides. Her stern face bears a smile, but her eyes are unreadable. Her dark hair, tied in a bun behind her tiara, and pale skin betray Chelaxian heritage. Walking beside her is a fairly attractive half-elven woman with striking red hair tied back with a bandanna. She wears leather armor, and many scars betray her status as an experienced adventurer. A distinctive mithral and redwood aklys hangs at her side. "I'm glad you've decided to answer my summons. I apologize for the wait. I needed to speak with my friend, Koriah Azmaren, here."

The half-elf gives a wave. "We're actually still talking. I've just returned from scouting a new route through the Darklands."

"Indeed," Sheila says. "Koriah has returned with a number of artifacts from ancient Thassilon. They are of great interest to me."

Sheila pauses for a moment, as if in thought. "Follow me, if you please. I should like to show you all something."

Sheila leads Koriah and the party into what appears to be the lodge's library. The walls of the room are lined with bookshelves, while several tables in the center sit piled high with scrolls and papers. One table, however, is noticeably sparse, supporting only a small, ornate, cubical stone coffer. Sheila approaches this table and gestures for the party to take their seats. Once everyone is seated, she gestures to Koriah, who lays down some scrolls by the coffer.

"I must conclude my business with Pathfinder Azmeren before we meet proper. In the meantime, though, I thought you could help us with another minor issue. This stone coffer is an ancient Thassilonian puzzle, a cunning feat of magical engineering known as a paradox box. As you’ll see from even a casual investigation, what appear to be seams on the sides are only shallow grooves—there’s no obvious way to open the thing.

"Each paradox box has its own secret method of being opened. Essentially, a paradox box substitutes hidden catches and magical triggers for a lock. Given time, anyone clever enough could figure out how to open a paradox box, just as given time, a locksmith can open any lock. This particular box was among those items recovered by Koriah—the scrolls next to the box are her preliminary notes on possible triggers or methods of opening it, but she’s not yet had a chance to sit down and properly investigate the thing.

"So... why don’t you put your heads together and see if you can’t do that for me? Even if the box is empty, as I suspect it probably is, knowing the method of opening it makes it a valuable find anyway. I’ll return shortly, and I hope to see that box open! Think of this as an audition, if you will—because the actual task I want to speak to you about soon will require as much wit as it will brawn!”

With that, Sheila and Koriah exit the room.

Cade's eyes light up behind his glasses upon seeing the paradox box, recognizing the design from his time in the Founder's Museum.  When Lady Heidmarch and Koriah leave the room, his expression shifts from one of awe to excitement as he immediately gets to work.  "A paradox box!" Cade mutters aloud as he pours over Koriah's notes, "I've seen the two the Founder's Museum has in its collection, but I could never touch them behind the glass.  Now I get to solve an actual one!"  Finishing the notes, the wizard adjusts his glasses and gets to work.  First, he touches two sides at random to test how the runes switch from one position to another, and after a few preliminary attempts pauses to consider which key phrase could open the box that was derived from the letters C, U, L, E, and R.  After a few moments, the wizard quickly begins tapping the box's face, and the runes flash and shift as Cade tries to open it.  Thankfully, it only takes Cade a few seconds to spell the word "Lucre," the ancient Thassilonian word for "money," and the box makes a soft clicking noise, signalling it has been opened.  Stifling an excited giggle, Cade proudly proclaims "Got it!"

Ali looks over Cade's shoulder. "What's inside of it?"

As Ali leans over Cade's shoulder, the box suddenly springs open. A swirl of green mist shoots out of the box materializing into two small, gremlin-like creatures with sickly dog heads. They immediately brandish knives at the group.

[[Roll Initiative]]

Ali steps to the side of Cade and brandishes her greatsword. She brings it down, cleaving one of the gremlins and causing a great gauge in the table.

The remaining gremlin shrieks as it is splattered with the blood of its companion. It quickly lashes out at the young mage who released it. However its dagger strike feels more like a pin prick, and leaves Cade barely even feeling it.

Flynt takes a quick sidestep to gain a more advantageous position on the gremlin, drawing his dagger, and lashing out with it. Though he would swear that the strike was true, instead, some errant stroke of luck made his arm veer to the left, slicing a scroll in twain.

Naomi glares down the remaining gremlin. Sparks of fiery light run across her burned arm as she utters a single command: "Fall."

[Command
4/5 Level 1 spells remaining]

Ali senses opportunity and swings sideways at the other gremlin, killing it. "Weak!"

With the gremlins dead, the room goes silent for a few moments. Then the sound of rushing footsteps can be heard from outside the room. The door slams open, revealing Sheila and Koriah with weapons in hand. When they see the gremlin corpses they seem to ease up somewhat.

”I need a good answer for what happened here, and I need it now,” Sheila says with a stern but somewhat muted anger in her voice.

"Well, you see, Miss Heidmarch, we had just finished solving the puzzle and opening the box when these vile little creatures popped out of it," Erron says, giving one of the pugwampi corpses a poke with his dagger. "With them brandishing knives at us, we dispatched them as efficiently as we could, especially thanks to the efforts of our gnoll friend here. Of course, I make all apologies for any damage that might have happened to your belongings in the chaos of combat."

Sheila surveys the scene once more. ”I should have known there would be some kind of trap. Even still, I commend you all for both opening the box and dealing with its trap. You may keep whatever you find inside of it, though I shall be keeping the box itself.”

Koriah gives a hearty smile. ”Seriously, great work! I’ve gotta get going, but I wish you all the best of luck on this new venture Sheila cooked up.”

”Safe travels to you, Koriah,” Sheila says before turning back to the group. ”Well then, shall you all join me in my office?”

Ali cleans off their sword of gremlin gore and nods to Sheila

Cade, a bit shaken, takes off his glasses and wipes the blood from his face.  Humorously, the tiny dagger's shallow wound left far less blood than what splattered onto him.  With his face smeared clean, he takes the cuff of his robe and begins to clean them.  "...My thanks, Ali," Cade admits as he slips his glasses back on.  Though he was assaulted by ambushing gremlins and splattered with blood, the news that Lady Heidmarch was keeping the paradox box seemed to sour his mood more.  Still, Cade gives Lady Heidmarch a determined smile and an affirming nod in response.

As the group moves to her office, Cade also gathers what was in the paradox box; he finds four garnets (worth 50 gp each), a masterworked silver dagger, and a ring containing a faint magical aura (Ring of Feather Falling)

Sheila leads the group into her office and allows them to take a seat. She sits behind her desk.

"First, allow me to apologize for that unpleasantness regarding the gremlins--but it does provide an excellent object lesson. The life of adventure is not one for the weak-hearted. That you not only took care of the gremlins but also got the box open in the first place is all the confirmation I need that my gut was right--you're the perfect group for the job I have in mind.

"You see--I've recently had trouble with one of my informants here in Magnimar, Cecilia Genovese. She's a Varisian who recently approached the Pathfinder Society with an offer to serve as a street informant. She runs with the Sczarni--I'm not sure with which group. A week ago, Cecilia sent me a cryptic hint that her gang was on the verge of uncovering an item that would be of great interest to the Society. Since the Sczarnis' methods of uncovering something often involve armed robbery or breaking into somebody's personal chambers, we thought it prudent not to press for further details and instead wait to see what it would produce. Suffice it to say, she hinted strongly that it pertained to Thassilon, and promised to meet with me to discuss the find three days ago.

"She never kept that promise--instead, she seems to have simply vanished. Initially, I assumed that the acquisition of the item was simply taking longer than expected, but now I'm hearing rumors that the Sczarni are looking for her as well.

"It seems likely that Cecilia has absconded with this item she's discovered. And this is where you enter, my friends. I want to know what it was that Cecilia and the Sczarni found. In fact, I'm more interested in that than what happened to Cecilia herself. For now, I'd like to keep all of this quiet--if you can find out what happened to Cecilia without letting a lot of people know she was also working for me as an informant, that would be preferable--that's a big part of why I'm coming to you, as promising adventurers, with this task. You don't yet have a reputation in Magnimar, or in some cases one so stained that it matters no more. As such, the lowlifes and criminals you are likely to encounter may be more likely to talk.

So... go out there and look for Cecilia. Find out what happened to her, and to this item she and her gang discovered. If you can secure the item, all the better; bring it back to me and you'll have a reward of 500 gold pieces for the trouble. And if you can bring back Cecilia alive for me to speak to, I'll double it. Any questions?"

Though the talk of gangs and the criminal element visibly unnerve Cade, the prospect of yet more Thassilonian relics keep the wizard invested.  "...What did she mention about the item in question that suggested a link to Thassilon?" Cade asked, unsure where to begin elsewhere.