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Explorer
Session 25 (8-3-2023): Shadows of the Ancients
Zuna returns to the woman in the blue coat and approaches her. Zuna manages to convince her that she can be trusted. The woman offers various items, including firearms, a sword (32,000 gp), and an amulet (28,000 gp) reminiscent of the Ancients. Zuna notices that the man with the woman is actually a golem. Zuna decides to trade her cloak of smoke for the amulet.
After the fair, the group heads to the prison where Rock Rackus is held. Rock Rackus is an arrogant and eccentric character who considers himself highly suitable to lead the Dockers in their uprising. He makes all sorts of strange claims. He also says he can teleport the group to a random location if they free him. He offers this because a skyseer told him that the people of the RHC would solve his murder. He doesn't fully believe in that superstition but wants to stay on their good side. The group keeps his offer in mind.
That evening, there’s another debriefing with Stover Delft. He advises them to go to Pardwight University tomorrow with the staff, as they might know more about it there.
500 A.O.V., autumn, day 3
The next morning, a group of colleagues asks the group to come look at a strange case. There is a dead man with a heavy blow to his head and his hands tied with a metal rod. He was wearing a kind of chain, as pieces of it are scattered on the ground near the body. He’s been dead for quite some time and wasn’t found sooner because he was in the basement of a factory, where strong industrial odors linger. The man was about 50-60 years old, with socks stitched with the initials A.G. A golem lies nearby, shattered into many pieces, but appears to have been of high quality with potential for high intelligence. There's also a rusty metal ring nearby, reminiscent of teleportation rings they've seen before. The group advises looking for signs of teleportation. The other RHC members thank them and continue their investigation.
Next, the group goes to Pardwight University with the staff. They quickly find Professor Hans Weber, a professor of antiquities and the current curator of the natural history museum. He recognizes the staff immediately. Recently, a ziggurat (an ancient pyramid-like structure) of the Ancients was discovered in the High Bayou. He had sent a colleague, Dr. Xambria Meredith, to investigate it. Xambria sent a list of artifacts she found and intended to bring back. However, something went wrong, many people died, and Xambria was the sole survivor. She is now at the university. Hans mentions that they may speak with Xambria, though she hasn’t been doing well since the incident. As the artifacts were part of his research, the staff officially belongs to him, but he allows the RHC to keep it temporarily for investigation.
Xambria seems confused. On one hand, she provides answers, but on the other, she appears not to remember certain details. She explains: She has a sponsor, Caius Bergeron, who provided funding. She sent him updates on her findings, and he was especially interested in a "golden seal," a large, round golden plate. A while later, she found the plate and informed Caius, along with a list of all the artifacts she discovered. A few days later, Caius sent a team of specialists by train to Bole, a nearby town: three tiefling spellcasters and two human guards. She can't recall the exact timing, but news of a major scandal in Flint also surfaced around then. It was some weeks ago.
She led the specialists to the dig site, where they spent a long time working on the golden disc. She returned to the train to fetch more supplies, but when she came back, she found bodies from her team scattered around, and the specialists were nowhere to be seen. She quickly fled back to Flint. She believes the specialists hired by Caius were responsible. She hasn't been able to contact Caius since. She has given some clues about reaching the ziggurat but can't quite remember its exact appearance.
The group prepares to head to the ziggurat.
Zuna returns to the woman in the blue coat and approaches her. Zuna manages to convince her that she can be trusted. The woman offers various items, including firearms, a sword (32,000 gp), and an amulet (28,000 gp) reminiscent of the Ancients. Zuna notices that the man with the woman is actually a golem. Zuna decides to trade her cloak of smoke for the amulet.
After the fair, the group heads to the prison where Rock Rackus is held. Rock Rackus is an arrogant and eccentric character who considers himself highly suitable to lead the Dockers in their uprising. He makes all sorts of strange claims. He also says he can teleport the group to a random location if they free him. He offers this because a skyseer told him that the people of the RHC would solve his murder. He doesn't fully believe in that superstition but wants to stay on their good side. The group keeps his offer in mind.
That evening, there’s another debriefing with Stover Delft. He advises them to go to Pardwight University tomorrow with the staff, as they might know more about it there.
500 A.O.V., autumn, day 3
The next morning, a group of colleagues asks the group to come look at a strange case. There is a dead man with a heavy blow to his head and his hands tied with a metal rod. He was wearing a kind of chain, as pieces of it are scattered on the ground near the body. He’s been dead for quite some time and wasn’t found sooner because he was in the basement of a factory, where strong industrial odors linger. The man was about 50-60 years old, with socks stitched with the initials A.G. A golem lies nearby, shattered into many pieces, but appears to have been of high quality with potential for high intelligence. There's also a rusty metal ring nearby, reminiscent of teleportation rings they've seen before. The group advises looking for signs of teleportation. The other RHC members thank them and continue their investigation.
Next, the group goes to Pardwight University with the staff. They quickly find Professor Hans Weber, a professor of antiquities and the current curator of the natural history museum. He recognizes the staff immediately. Recently, a ziggurat (an ancient pyramid-like structure) of the Ancients was discovered in the High Bayou. He had sent a colleague, Dr. Xambria Meredith, to investigate it. Xambria sent a list of artifacts she found and intended to bring back. However, something went wrong, many people died, and Xambria was the sole survivor. She is now at the university. Hans mentions that they may speak with Xambria, though she hasn’t been doing well since the incident. As the artifacts were part of his research, the staff officially belongs to him, but he allows the RHC to keep it temporarily for investigation.
Xambria seems confused. On one hand, she provides answers, but on the other, she appears not to remember certain details. She explains: She has a sponsor, Caius Bergeron, who provided funding. She sent him updates on her findings, and he was especially interested in a "golden seal," a large, round golden plate. A while later, she found the plate and informed Caius, along with a list of all the artifacts she discovered. A few days later, Caius sent a team of specialists by train to Bole, a nearby town: three tiefling spellcasters and two human guards. She can't recall the exact timing, but news of a major scandal in Flint also surfaced around then. It was some weeks ago.
She led the specialists to the dig site, where they spent a long time working on the golden disc. She returned to the train to fetch more supplies, but when she came back, she found bodies from her team scattered around, and the specialists were nowhere to be seen. She quickly fled back to Flint. She believes the specialists hired by Caius were responsible. She hasn't been able to contact Caius since. She has given some clues about reaching the ziggurat but can't quite remember its exact appearance.
The group prepares to head to the ziggurat.
