We met our contact person from the Vault and were handed a small safe to be opened, as a test to our skills. We were also handed this safe IRL. I was thoroughly impressed.
I am personally terrible at solving puzzles, so I let my teammates shine. After some work, we managed to open up the box and found some IRL gummy bears inside. Yumm! There was also a fancy key, and a message that self destructed in 5 seconds. Basically the local natural history museum had exposed a crystal, which is actually the egg of some eldritch horror[1]! Some researcher called Dr. Cassee Dannell[2] tried to warn them, but she was sidelined. Now, we must meet her and talk specifics about neutralizing the egg. So far, so good. We headed to a nearby tavern to meet the researcher.
I tried to organize a diversion so the others could interrogate the good doctor, but it wasn't really needed. She told us everything about being shunned due to her research[3], the folly of the museum for not listening to her, and the method she devised for stealing the egg, so she can neutralize it[4]. All this stank, but the things I do for gold.
We also got a fairly good deal by receiving formal clothing and a bag of holding to sneak all our gear into the museum, pronto. We went in during regular opening hours, scouted out the place, then used our fancy disguises and fake entry cards to attend a private exhibition of the crystal/egg.
The floor map provided by Cassee proved accurate enough. I saw several ferns on exhibition big enough to hind behind; Aris immediately took advantage to cast detect magic behind them. Thus, we discovered the location of several magical auras within the museum, including the guards, some doors, as well as two standing sets of armor. Not suspicious at all. There were also secret doors which proved to be hidden passages for storing cleaning supplies - good thing to have a dungeon delver in the party, thanks Teek!
In the cafe, I made friends with the barmaid by asking for a magic muffin.
With all visitable places mapped out, I decided to break into the attic. Nobody was up there, but I loudly said, just in case: "Hey, this isn't a privy!", earning me inspiration. The attic had a window and some crates, perfect to exit unto the roof and hide. But on to the private exhibition.
As the exhibition of the "murkmire stone" opened, we waltzed in to see some food, magical music, fancy guests, fancy stuff, and a fancy elven curator, called Alda Arkin.[5]
Sadly, I couldn't make friends with her. Me playing a fellow researcher, called "Dr. Dre", wasn't too convincing. I did, however, mingle and talk to merchants, soldiers and nobles to get some info tidbits. In the meantime, the other player inspected the crystal, finding a magical device beneath it, but no mechanical traps. There was also an object of similar size and weight in a different exhibition, and a ventilation shaft.
Finally, we made our plan. We would hide in the attic and on the roof[6] until after the museum closed, then descend and go round the second floor, evade the traps through the usage of secret doors and steal the crystal/egg.
Let's see how this plan survives contact with session 2.
[1] Whatever that may be, we were assured of it being terrible.
[2] Who is apparently a fan of doubling letters in her name.
[3] Totally not suspicious, at all.
[4] Through some totally not suspicious means.
[5] A fan of alliteration.
[6] I even locked the attic door behind us.
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