resources:adventure:price_of_knowledge [Memento Mundi]

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====== Price of Knowledge ======
===== Initial Brief =====

===== PCs =====
  *[[user:chaos:pc:mar_andreya|Mar 'Anders' Andreya]] - Chaos
  *Booker - Dan
  *Unit03 - Dave
  *Varic - JamesG
===== Debrief =====
The Party enter the Palace of Games and speak with Alice about the job.  Eventually her strange winning streak gets the attention of the casino's management as she is escorted upstairs to meet with the White Duke.  The party wait outside for her, only to see her leap through a window shortly to be pursued by the Palace's guards.  They flee but are eventually caught in a bit of a street fight, whereupon they swiftly beat up the enforcers and send them stumbling back to their master.

A few streets later they are accosted by a different group of thugs, these ones demanding that they turn over 'the key' not knowing what they're talking about the party once again defend themselves, however when Booker and Mar try to interrogate a captive the man's face melts off, leaving him dead in seconds.  A curious Unit 03 investigates and confirms cause of death to be loss of face.

Armed with Alice's instructions about what they need to enter the vault the party seek out the exiled Patricia Carxus, finding her living in a small cabin in the mountains.  With a convincing spiel about how she can help them hurt her estranged sibling and recover a portion of the family fortune, they persuade her to part with some of her blood.  In exchange she takes samples from Varic and Mar to make sure they pay their debt.

Getting close to Margush the party are spotted by a Serradic patrol but manage to eliminate them all and escape to the lakeshore before additional soldiers arrive.  There they barge towards the city and are beset by minor water sprites led by a beguiling Siren.  With the harbour in sight, Booker is overcome by the strange new feeling stirred by the spirit and plunges into the waters, only to be rescued by his human companions.

Alice suggests that they will need the assistance of a water spirit to escape the vault with the loot so they visit a spa where one resides.  Whilst Varic partakes of the healing waters, the others speak with the spirit and strike a deal that she will help them in exchange for their intervention with a young minstrel who is soon to be called away to fight on the City Wall.  After investigating legal and diplomatic solutions to the situation the party eventually resort to brute force, Mar ambushing the lad on his way home and breaking his legs to ensure that he can't serve.

Their exit procedure in place, the adventurers head to the bank.  Booker uses his traitor's coat upon the Bank Manager and then persuades the befuddled banker to take on the others as guards, much of the banks normal security force having been conscripted.  They are given a tour by the security chief and during a demonstration of the vault mechanism they knock her out and break the door to prevent pursuit.\\
The forethought proves fortunate as they next have to step within a ritual circle and upon doing so are lulled into an illusion of peaceful contentedness.  The differences in their perception of a paradisal refuge lead to tensions that eventually result in Booker striking down Varic.  This wakes the Wounding mage and in time his external manipulations of the others leads to them all being awoken.  Unsure how much time has past since they fell asleep they hurry down a trapdoor to the tunnels below.  Navigating a trap filled passage they find it magically warped to lead them in an endless circle, however by jumping into an apparently spiked filled pit they are able to proceed.

They appear in a bubble beneath the lake and find their passage blocked by a water spirit.  However using the blood collected from Patricia they are able to confirm that they should be allowed to pass.  Carried through the waters of the lake they are deposited in a treasure vault, where the encounter a scurrilous band of no-good bankrobbers led by a mysterious wizard.  The mage tries to persuade the party to give him Alice and accept second pick of the loot, but the party demonstrate their superior claim to the prize by slaughtering the other group, the strange vanishing powers of the mage insufficient to safe him from Varic's onslaught of Wounding Magics.

Alice then manipulates a stone circle at the far end of the room and this transports them to a great and ancient library filled with the procephies of the keepers; a group apparently devoted to collecting the visions of seers and then working to bring about desirable futures and prevent disastrous ones.  It becomes apparent that Alice is one of these augurs, though her powers are apparently much weaker than those of old.  The collection is overseen by a Dragonborn librarian who appears unusually tolerant of humans and is more than happy for these new keepers to peruse the archives.  Booker discovers a text related to the Great Betrayal of the founders and flees with it back into the treasure vault, much to the librarian's confusion.  Having had one single text pointed out to them as being unsuitable for viewing, Mar and Unit 03 proceed to ignore the strenous protestations of the librarian and have a look.  Both of them have their minds overloaded by the complete contents of anything ever committed to writing and collapse into unconsciousness.  A woeful librarian explains to Varic that they may be comatose for days or months and that insanity may well result.  Alice explains to the librarian that the Keepers are no more and that she cannot easily access this place to rebuild the order.  The librarian agrees that he may move the gateway to somewhere more convenient and Acryn is suggested.

The unconscious Mar and 03 are ejected from the library and Varic and Alice depart shortly after, the circle crumbling behind them.  Before they can contemplate further looting of the vault, Vilmenus Carxus appears to challenge these thieves, summoning up spectral chains to fight with him.  Half the party unconscious the remainder launch into a desperate attack on the oligarch.  Varic is felled by an unexpected blow from Alice, her mind momentarily overwhelmed by her father's power, and by the time the paper golem brings down their foe the wounding mage has already succumbed to the wound. \\
Booker loads up his unconscious or dead companions with as much loot as their pockets and bags will hold and then launches them into the lake water.  After a few moments the blessing of the water spirit falls upon them and a bubble of air expands over each adventurer, bearing them towards the surface.

After being dumped on the margush docks Book-err procures a cart with a small bribe and after loading his two dead and one insensate companion onto the cart sets off. Between them him and Alice manage to avoid all of the patrols until they can get a caravan out of the Margush. Anders and unit zero three wake up halfway back to Acryn and by the time they get back are feeling sort of better. Anders goes to see Patricia Carxus and gives her 8 mana and 200 hundred riel in return for not cursing her. After hearing that her brother is dead however she gives 150 back and heads off towards Margush to attempt to take over the house.

====Outcomes====

===Booker===
  * 310 Riel
  * A book of prophesies concerning Acryn and the founders. As it retains a true accounting of all their deeds in the past and some yet to come it is a potent artefact of the founders. One encounter per adventure by recounting the deeds from the book rather than chanting normally, this requires two hands as the book is quite large, the chant times for all miracles are halved.
===Unit zero 3===
  * 310 Riel
  * Has Gained the quirk. Knowledge of the ages.

===Anders===
  * 260 Riel
  * Has gained the Quirk knowledge of the ages.

===Varic===
  * Unfortunately died.

===Knowledge of the Ages===

Having attempted to read the first book you have been blasted by all the knowledge ever written down. Whilst this is too much for any one brain to comprehend you can occasionally look into the maelstrom to divine some knowledge useful to your current situation. 

Once per adventure you can attempt to recall some information which may be useful to your current situation. Doing so may get you relevant information if it was at some point written down. You will have trouble communicating with those who are not so enlightened however and for this and the next encounter you will be unable to communicate , by talking or writing , in a comprehensible manner. 

Your brain is however slightly out of your control. Every time you read anything you will have violent flashbacks to the event and take a 30 second rend as you lie insensate on the floor.

{{tag>"price of knowledge" adventure mar_andreya}}
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