Note: This is my first RPG here on the vine, so hopefully it is to your and my liking. Anyone can play, join in this but it does has links to existing Knightfall adventures and is set mainly around the Knightfall Heritage Museum. There is a bit of set up, I'm a fan-ficer so bear with it...it's good and sets the scene.
**The Griffin Cube Origins: An excerpt from the chronicles of the family Giftzahn of Prussia:
"Back in days when gods and men knew their place, the mage Emman walked the earth. Unhappy that he was born mortal, he questioned the gods and why they got to live so decadently and forever, whilst he would go old and die. Amused by the plucky mortal the gods set him a task. Build a box to capture one of the griffins that soared in the sky. Emman set about his seemingly impossible task.
Emman travelled to Nekhamis, Sumer, Thebes, Shangri-La, Agartha and Atlantis, learning spells and knowledge to trap a griffin. At each site he crafted a stone tablet and carved his knowledge onto it, imbuing it with his blood, sweat and tears. In Nehkamis the god-king Araghor in a rare moment smiled upon him as he worked, infusing the tablet with power. In Sumer, Ahura Mazda saw the tablet and not wanting to be out done by the other god, granted and infused the second tablet with power. Each site Emman travelled to, the gods; whether out of anger or jealousy or curiosity, imbibed each tablet with power and sacred knowledge to which he lapped up.
When he reached Atlantis, Emman had siphoned off power from the tablets that he felt himself was on par with the gods, possibly even better than them since he’d crawled up from mortality to divinity. Poseidon looked down on this upstart and refused to grant Atlantean knowledge to the mage. Emman demanded that Poseidon answer him personally.
A terrible fight erupted between the young godling and the old. The island of Atlantis shook on its foundation at the forces unleashed. Emman was winning against the sea god, when he spotted a whole flock of griffins that had landed upon a mountain to watch the fight, more griffins that stars in the sky. Emman’s loss of focus cost him the fight, and his life!
Poseidon flayed the mage and scattered his remains like chum, the griffins swooped and devoured the man who challenged a god. Poseidon then bound the griffins and the energy they’d eaten into the final tablet. Poseidon then scattered the tablets to the four winds. From that time on the gods remained distant from men.”
For countless ages the tablets lay hidden. But as the world grew smaller, pieces of the cube were found, brought together. The family of Giftzahn from Prussia began an unhealthy obsession with the tablets, naming it the Griffin Cube knowing that if a fraction of the myth was true, then the ancient knowledge, and possibly god energy could mean extreme power.
On the 25 August 1883, Baron Sergei Giftzahn got hold of all the pieces and assembled the Griffin Cube on the island of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies. The forces unleashed made the island explode on the 26 in the loudest sound ever heard in modern history and the pieces scattered again. The Giftzahn sight divine intervention since a piece of the Griffin Cube was found in six thousand miles away in Rwanda and another eleven thousand miles away in Venezuela.
The last heir of the Giftzahn, Baron Dieter Giftzahn, born 1911, inherited two pieces of the Griffin Cube and began his searchings whilst the world went to war. Money, time and murder have slowly pulled all the pieces back to its ‘rightful’ place. And now the final piece is within Dieter’s grasp, sitting as a mere curiosity piece in the Knightfall Museum.
But Dieter is very old. Stubbornly refusing to die, he clings to life knowing that godhood is within his grasp; that untold power is within sight. But he is racing the clock as his ancient body succumbs to old age. But Baron Poisonfang, the English translation of his name, will succeed.
He has too!
***
How it all started (links in with http://www.comicvine.com/forums/rpg/9/a-knight-at-the-museum-open-knightfall-rpg/740314/#58 for context, but I have pasted it all my bits here so you can follow along easier)
**
Silently, in the corner, unnoticed by the Knightfall Heritage Museum staff and the heroes, a tiny camera blinked, sending images to a laptop many miles away.
"How very entertaining," mused the shadowy man as he sat his desk watching the silent proceedings "Luckily they haven't damage my prize"
His boney fingers fumbled for a cigarette as he watched; an eerie grin on his thin grey lips.
"Thank you for showing me more holes in their security, you costumed idi.." he exploded into a fit of deep, unhealthy coughing before wiping his mouth "God help you all if you damage THAT case!"
He clicked another angle and watched some more, a silent voyeur...not noticing the blood flecks on the screen.
His nicotine stained index fingers danced on the laptop as he zoomed in on a display in the Near East section. He could barely care for the fighting, which while entertaining didn't help in his quest. The camera brought up the display case, the case which held his destiny! He focused in on the card on the item as he read it out loud "'Marble panel with a Griffin 1250–1300BCE. Byzantine; Possibly from Greece or the Balkans'. He he he. The final piece of the Griffin Cube is within my grasp!"
He gazed longingly at it, his cigarette turning into a long column of ash before he remembered he'd lit and took a deep drag, ash spilling across the keyboard and the desk.
"Bah!" He wiped the ash with his sleeve and noticed the blood mixing with the ash to leave an ugly smear on the mahogany desk. He bit his lip. Time was running out. Slowly he rose from his seat, hands on the desk to steady himself as his bones creaked like a set of old doors. A smile crept across his thin grey lips.
He looked at the screen, his brow furrowed wishing that he hadn't been so cheap. But he sacrificed sound for excellent camoflage and a self destruct sequence. He smiled as a man jammed a pen through his hand, but without sound the context of the mutilation was lost. He had seen enough. His micro-cameras had given him more information on the Knightfall Heritage Museum, about its flaws, weaknesses and how to access his prize.
Slowly he closed the laptop and tucked it snugly under his arm. After a laboured deep breath he shuffled from the desk across the room, a distance of merely fifty feet to the door but he knew it would take at least fifteen minutes. He muttered and cursed his decrepid body, but soon that would all be a memory. The Griffin Cube would fix all this, and more!
He slowly exhaled and began the shuffle across the ebony carpet, his bones creaking and cracking.
"Soon" he uttered in a mantra "Soon"
He reached the door, sweat gathered on his upper lip, his heart was racing at the incredible strain of walking across the room. He slowly exhaled and grabbed the door frame.
"Not now!" he half pleaded, half yelled as his chest constricted. After several tense minutes, he stood under his own power. He opened up the laptop to check the museum again. Several of the screens were static
"Vas?"
He clicked through them to see a man locating one, pointing straight at him before the screen went to static. The cameras were designed to explode if tampered with, but finding several of them in rapid succession meant things could change, security could get upgraded.
"Costumed idiots!" he cursed as his boney fingers gripped the large gold door knocker. He took a deep breath, closed the laptop and pulled open the door.
"Heinrich!" his raspy screech echoed down the hallway "Prepare the jet!"
**
He sat in the back of the limo looking at the Knightfall Heritage Museum. A tear welled in his ancient eye. It was so close. It was almost over. He looked down at his boney hands, trembling with a combination of excitement and Parkinson's.
"Shall I drive up to the frontBarony?" Heinrich asked from the front in his almost musical accent.
"No you overprotective idiot!" he snapped. Heinrich had no real idea what was about to transpire. He was a loyal manservant but had no sense of majesty, of timing. Maybe it was because he was Italian; or black; or gay; or Jewish...he didn't know, nor care...he saw the flecks of fresh blood on the window from where he'd been breathing heavy. "I shall walk. My entire life has built towards this moment and I shall not be chaffuered to it like some sort of pampered pooch!"
"Si Barony!"
The flight from Germany had taken longer than expected due to bad weather, customs, traffic; adding undue stress to his already failing body. His chest convulsed causing him to whince in pain as the waves of potential death wracked his skeletal frame. Heinrich looked on in the rearview mirror at the stubborn man he'd cared for these past twenty five years and waited for the wave to pass. If he rushed in too soon he would get berrated, but leaving it too long and the Baron could die...it was a tightrope.
"Stop staring at me you idiot!"
"Si Barony"
Slowly he opened the limo door and stepped out, his bone cracking louder than usual "Don't you dare!" he growled at his body "Not when I'm am this close!"
Heinrich exited the limo and removed a large black box from the trunk and wheeled it beside the Baron "Shall I come in with you Barony?"
He looked at his manservant. Heinrich was a walking contradiction from the fact he was black, Italian, gay, Jewish, vegan. He smiled "Yes...you idiot"
Heinrich smiled back, it was probably the nicest thing the Baron had said to him...ever "Si Barony"
The pair walked slowly towards the museum, an almost brisk pace for one, a snail's pace for the other. Heinrich mentally noted his guns and his permits to carry them, remembering the trouble he had last time he was in the United States. The Baron paused and pulled out a mobile phone and placed a call.
"This is a message for@Agent 12" He breathed heavily and lashed an arm out to Heinrich for support "As agreed upon, the million and one dollar will be transferred to your account when I hang up from this call. I..." He put the phone to the side as he hacked and coughed for a solid minute, wiped his thin grey lips and continued "My apologies, you are to arrive at the Knightfall Heritage Museum in precisely seventy minutes, and await a second call from my manservant on what you will do next. Good day"
Heinrich looked at his employer "Barony?"
"I am fine you idiot!" he snapped as he pulled away "You have the paperwork from the Linden Museum to ensure our ruse?"
"Si Barony"
"You have the letters verfiying our claims from the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institute?"
"Si Barony"
"And the..."
Heinrich looked at his employer "From the cameras you had implanted to the acting troupe you hired to be the curators of said museums to cement the ruse. All is in readiness Barony."
He smiled, his rotted headstone like teeth showing "Then let us assemble the Griffin Cube and the world will tremble before Baron Dieter Giftzahn!"
And with that, the long walk to the front door began.
***
Annabel Watkins loved the smell of history in the morning, and every morning smelt good. She’d worked as the day duty manager of the Knightfall Heritage Museum for about three years and loved it. Sure there were bad days with tour groups wandering into closed sections, guidedogs peeing on mummies, children dropping chocolate icecream on million year old dinosaur bones and even that weird incident with the mayor’s daughter after hours a few nights ago; but all in all she had her dream job.
Sam the security guard wandered in. Annabel always thought he could pass for John Travolta, but then Sam opened his mouth and his weird, almost comical Baltic accent ruined the illusion.
“Hell-oh Anya Bell”
“Morning Sam”
“There is man’s walking to door”
Annabel looked at Sam trying to work out what he was saying when she looked out the front door to see a very skinny, almost skeletal old man and a large muscular black man pulling a black box. They were walking at such a pace that it almost looked like they were standing still. She flipped through her schedule and didn’t see anything.
“No idea Sam, but we can ask them when we open in half an hour.” she replied as she looked at her watch “Where is everyone today?”
“Traffic is a badness”
Annabel smiled as she headed off to her office, taking the long way so she could be alone if only briefly with the pieces.
**
Heinrich looked at his employer as he struggled each and every step. The walk from the limo to the steps had taken forty minutes.
“Shall I carry you up the stairs Barony?” Heinrich knew the answer, but felt obliged to ask.
“Sixty two steps!” he wheezed “Sixty two little steps!”
“Si Barony”
He leant in so his employer could cling to his muscular arm and mount the first one.
“Sixty one!” he coughed, flecks of blood appeared in the corner of his mouth
A group of school skipped up the stairs around them, much to his disgust.
**
“They want what?” Annabel exclaimed into her walkie-talkie as she sat in her office readying her notes for the monthly board of directors meeting. They hardly ever showed but she knew that the one time she didn’t do the reports, they’d show up.
“The strange men are here to curate the Near East”
“Sam, try again” She rolled her eyes, Sam was great but at times it was like talking to a child.
“Here you come”
Annabel got up from her desk “Wait there Sam. Also Sam, there’s a guy in the Americas wing looking a bit shady, could you go check it out”
Annabel was at the Near East displays in about three minutes, the service routes for staff meant you could get anywhere in around five minutes without customer contact. Annabel wondered why the elaborate system every time she used it, sometimes pretending to be Lara Croft or Sydney Fox if she was transporting relics across the site.
“You cannot go!” Sam’s distinct voice echoed as Annabel stepped out from behind the massive Ursus spelaeus to see the frail, skinny old man and the large black man holding a black box.
“Annabel Watkins, duty manager of the Knightfall Heritage Museum” she announced, hand extended up to the pair, whose way was being blocked by Sam.
“I say they not go!” Sam pointed to the damage done by the vigilante intrusion, roped off with bollards and signs.
“Thank you Sam” she shook Heinrich’s hand but was given a derisive glare by the skinny one.
“I am Baron Dieter Giftzahn from the Linden Museum of Stuttgart!” he announced “This is my assistant Heinrich Romano. We are here to appraise the Byzantine griffin tablet”
“Okay, well as yo…”
“Your board of directors and the curator have cleared my arrival” he nodded to Heinrich who handed Annabel several papers.
Annabel scanned the papers from the Smithsonian, the British Museum, the Louvre. She was sceptical, scams like this happened in Helsinki and Tokyo a few years ago. The she saw the paperwork signed off by Quintus and Cassius.
“I was not info…”
“Miss Watkins!” snapped the Baron “Pardon my percieved rudeness and abruptness but I am quite sick and dying. My life’s work has led up to me viewing and appraisng your piece, which if I am correct, will turn modern archaeology on its head!”
“Si Barony”
Annabel saw blood in the corners of his mouth “Are you okay?”
“No, no I am not!” wheezed the Baron “I have a box of certified tools to examine the tablet when this idiot,” He waggled a thin finger at Sam “Began causing a commotion!”
“I’m very sorry Dieter but…” The room went silent as he glared at her “Did I say something wrong?”
“Maybe it is because you are American, but my family earnt the title of Baron!” he hissed as he leant on Heinrich.
“I’m sorry…Baron Gif-zen..,”
“Giftzahn!”
“Baron Giftzahn” Annabel was getting flustered “Just let me make a call, but please go and set up, I shall just co…”
“Danke” The Baron and Heinrich headed straight over to the display case. The Baron took out his phone and made a call as Heinrich began setting up.
“Sam, did you see that strange man in the Americas wing?” asked Annabel as she pulled out her phone.
“I come here, then I go there” said Sam as he went to where he'd been asked.
***
(Let the action begin!
Annabel is putting a call through to you,
you're getting a call about making your move...the strange guy in the Americas wing may be you!
To the other Knightfall's sorry if I've missed anyone of the Knightfall clan (can't seem to get/find Cassius) maybe even wants to return or )
Notes: There's about 60 school kids on sight, 3 teachers and 6 NPC staff. Sam is expendable as is Annabel but she has a dramtic clause ie: if you're going to kill her it has to be BIG and memorable!)
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