Night at the Museum

General Summary

Mid-Morning, Homebrew Inn, The City
Biirdresh Thunderkill , Dragonborn Paladin, went for her morning breakfast and beer, picking them up at the counter of the dining portion of the Homebrew Inn. As she looked for a place to eat the enormous pile of food she had purchased, her ears caught the sounds of adventurous boasting, and she joined a table of fellow breakfasters, sitting near a brightly-dressed fire genasi in the middle of a story.
Cinis, Genasi Rogue, was in the middle of regaling his breakfast companions with the time he single handedly saved his fort from bandits, swinging gracefully from the heights while firing arrows into their midst. The sudden appearance of a giant blue dragonborn at the table was somewhat startling, as was the deep, rumbling Russian accent that accompanied her speech. “That is some story, my friend! If we are sharing, let me tell you how I lost this ear…”
The two hit it off fairly well, swapping stories and enjoying breakfast in the company of each other and the others at the table. They agreed to check out the job postings for the day together, reasoning that they could take on larger jobs together. Before they left the table, a young gnome offered to sell them some magic berries to help them with any dangers they may face. They made their way to the board, where they found three postings that seemed to be of a level they were capable of.
The first was a handmade flyer that read “Just moved houses. Need help with the Garden.” A scribbled note added to the bottom read “Please bring swords”. A second posting, printed on heavy paper with a formal “Museum of Natural History” header read “To Whom It May Concern: We have been experiencing irregularities in the museum overnight. We are looking for anyone to stay overnight and perhaps find the source of these minor disturbances. Please inquire with Evanion at the front desk at 6 pm.” A final notice read “Item Recovery. Help Wanted” with an address somewhere in the city. Cinis expressed initial interest in the final sheet, but Biirdresh convinced him that the museum might pay more.
The two went to the Museum early with the idea of exploring the place before night fell. Evanion, an old human with stuttering speech, was happy to see them, and explained that while nothing serious had occurred, he had noticed that in the past few weeks, things in the west wing seemed to be knocked askew or moved slightly when he had come in in the morning. They explored the exhibits in the west wing, which consisted of a traveling exhibit of modern artists, an Oceanic exhibit that contained, among other things, a large sperm whale and a dragon turtle on display, an exhibit on methods of recording history, including a large bookshelf and printing press, and an archeology gallery that had several types of dinosaurs, both artist models and skeletons.
They noticed several things in their exploration of the museum, including a hollow center to the modern artist exhibit and an unusual purple ink on the papers in the printing press. Biirdresh had a minor confrontation with a guard, and Cinis had a brief conversation with another museum patron regarding the incidences in the night.
They finished their inspection of the museum in the early afternoon, then left to go find some food, purchasing fish tacos from a street vendor and enjoying the outdoor weather. They returned to the museum at dusk, finalizing plans with Evanion and settling in to wait for what the night may bring.
Cinis showed Biirdresh the hollow location and she hid inside, as Cinis climbed up onto the dragon turtle, which gave him a view of the Oceanic exhibit as well as some of the Records exhibit. They waited in silence for an hour or two before Cinis noticed a flash of movement in the Records hall. Biirdresh extracted herself from the Artist exhibit and joined him as they searched the Records exhibit. Cinis hid behind the bookshelf, and Biirdresh opened herself up to her patron, using the Stormlord’s power to examine her surroundings. She immediately felt an undead presence on the bookshelf, and her hasty search revealed a small Archeopteryx peering down at them from the top of the bookshelf.
Biirdresh wanted to destroy the undead creature, but Cinis wanted to try and communicate with it first. It immediately came to him, fluffing its feathers and examining him out of curiosity. As Cinis and Biirdresh argued over the fate of the creature, they both heard a loud thud in the adjoining Dinosaur exhibit.
Abandoning the discussion for the moment, they rushed into the exhibit to see the Nodosaurus skeleton step off of its pedestal and out into the room. Biirdresh rushed the creature, splintering bone with her greatsword. Cinis’ initial arrow was aimed straight where a heart should be, passing harmlessly between the bones. He cursed and struggled to reaim as the creature brought its tail around to slam into Biirdresh, sending her reeling backwards but still on her feet. A second swing of the greatsword combined with the thudding of Cinis’ arrow into the bony skull angered the skeletal beast, and a second swing of its heavy tail crashed into Biirdresh, throwing her across the room into the wall, where she hit the ground, unconscious.
Seeing his ally in trouble, Cinis ran into the chamber, sliding underneath the Nodosaurus skeleton and taking a defensive position over his fallen friend. He ducked another swing of the beast’s tail before jamming some of the berries he had obtained from the gnomish druid into Biirdresh’s mouth. As she came back into consciousness, the skeletal tail crashed directly down on his skull, and he crumpled to the ground. Snarling, Biirdresh surged to her feet and blasted lighting at her foe, screaming to pull his attention away from Cinis’ unmoving form. She pulled out her hammer, deflecting the tail as it swung towards her once more. She brought the hammer down directly on the creature’s skull, splintering it beyond recognition as the rest of its form collapsed, lifeless.
Biirdresh returned to the bleeding form of her friend and located the pouch that contained the remaining berries, feeding them to Cinis before calling on the Stormlord to heal her own wounds. Cinis regained consciousness, the blood clotting in his hair as he sat back up. The two took some time to rest, examining the remaining bones and tending to their wounds.
The rest of the night passed quickly, with Cinis feeding scraps to the Archeopteryx, which he quickly dubbed “Chicken.” There was a tense moment as Cinis watched the sunrise, studying Chicken closely, but he seemed unfazed by the dawn. Evanion returned and the two sheepishly led him to the destroyed skeleton, which they had attempted to put back on its display, to only moderate success.
Evanion was upset at the loss, although he agreed that it was justified. He confirmed that they had had an archeopteryx “stolen” approximately 2 weeks prior. Cinis and Biirdresh assured him that they had seen the beast running around, but that it had absolutely, definitely, for sure, flown out the window, very sad.
They collected their reward from Evanion with the assurance that the evening disturbances would stop now, and if they didn’t, to look for them at the Homebrew Inn. Cinis bundled Chicken out of the museum in his cloak, and the three walked back to the Homebrew together.

Rewards Granted

75gp (split) 150 XP (split) Chicken (archaeopteryx companion)

Missions/Quests Completed

Night at the Museum-To Whom It May Concern: We have been experiencing irregularities in the museum overnight. We are looking for anyone to stay overnight and perhaps find the source of these minor disturbances. Please inquire with Evanion at the front desk at 6 pm.

Character(s) interacted with

Evanion, Sabys Lei

Created Content

The Homebrew The City Museum of Natural History

Report Date

06 Oct 2018