The room they're invited to wait in is comfortable, more of a wide hallway than anything, a pair of hanging tapestries covering one wall, and smaller paintings surrounding a doorway on the opposite. The tapestries depict a pair of famous Pathfinders, one delving an ancient ruin, the majority of the tapestry depicting the ancient, crumbling interior, full of shadows and broken angles, and the occasional glint of treasure, the other exploring a cave, stealthily moving past a slumbering red dragon, resting atop a mountain of gold. The smaller paintings are portraits of other recognizable Pathfinders, including both Sheila and Sir Canayven Heidmarch, among others.<br/><br/>In fact, several minutes later, once it's clear no one else will be arriving to join them, the smaller door between the portraits opens, admitting two women; an attractive, half-elven woman, who matches one of the portraits on the wall (A DC 18 Know: Local or Dungeoneering check identifies her as Koriah Azmeren, an expert on the Darklands), and Sheila Heidmarch, the renowned and dignified Venture Captain of the Lodge.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Koriah and Sheila</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://i.imgur.com/MMrjVUl.png)<br/>(http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/165136/Sheila_Heidmarch-2-small.jpg)</div></div><br/>"Welcome, to both of you new recruits," Sheila says, in a surprisingly deep voice. "I'm glad you both arrived on time. This is Koriah Azmeren, and she has just returned from another expedition to the Darklands beneath Varisia, having scouted out a new route to Nar-Voth, from the Fogscar Mountains. She's found a surprising number of Thassilonian artifacts, and I'm afraid we need to spend a little while longer, discussing the implications of her discovery. I do apologize for the delay, but... hmm. Actually, if you wouldn't mind accompanying me?" she asks the two of them in a brisk, non-nonsense tone that makes it sound like she's used to being obeyed.<br/><br/>She leads the three of them into a nearby room, apparently a library and study. The walls are lined with bookshelves, and the tables in the room are heaped with books and scrolls. At the center of the room, however, a table has been all but cleared, except for a single, unusual object, an ornate cube, covered in runes.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Ornate Stone Box</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://ssgame.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/paradox-box.png?w=545)</div></div><br/>"I apologize again, for the delay, but, in the meantime, I thought you could help us with another minor issue. This stone coffer is an ancient Thassilonian puzzle, a cunning feat of magical engineering known as a paradox box. As you’ll see from even a casual investigation, what appear to be seams on the sides are only shallow grooves—there’s no obvious way to open the thing. Each paradox box has its own secret method of being opened. Essentially, a paradox box substitutes hidden catches and magical triggers for a lock. Given time, anyone clever enough could figure out how to open a paradox box, just as given time, a locksmith can open any lock. This particular box was among those items recovered by Koriah—the scrolls next to the box are her preliminary notes on possible triggers or methods of opening it, but she’s not yet had a chance to sit down and properly investigate the thing. So... why don’t you put your heads together and see if you can’t do that for me? Even if the box is empty, as I suspect it probably is, knowing the method of opening it makes it a valuable find anyway. I’ll return shortly, and I hope to see that box open! Think of this as an audition, if you will—because the actual task I want to speak to you about soon will require as much wit as it will brawn!”