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I do recall that in some far flung lands, the intelligent undead are granted rights just as the living. A vampire may be a beast, or may be a beloved family member.
To the door: Indeed, I wish I had learned the spell that unlocks normal locks. Alas. If we need to steal from the inebriated mayor, I can grant a few minutes of invisibility.
Lucon decides to take the initiative and pushes through the western door into the next room;
A37. Game Room:
A few tables and chairs in here give a place for guests to play card games or one of several board games stacked on a shelf to the west, including three different copies of Aberian’s favorite—Pits and Perils. The room is already lit by the self-lighting wall sconces in here, but thankfully devoid of other humans.
Sabinus listens at the 2 doors in this new room.
Sabinus's acute listening, and hearing nothing, gives him the confidence to push ahead into the hallways and then the rooms at the end of those hallways revealing two interesting rooms.
A38. Trophy Storage:
Several large stuffed animals, including a dozen hawks and leopards and an owlbear, have been put into storage here—leftover decorations from a previous mayor.
A39. Library:
This library has comfortable leather chairs surrounded by shelves of books. The tomes are generally about art, opera, and the theater, some of them exceptionally rare.
Lucon looks around the trophy room his mouth agape, most of the animals within he's never seen before. He cups his calloused hand to the owlbear's razor beak, which dwarfs it completely. "Th... those claws could tear a man in half without a second thought." he says, uneasily. "... and I don't like the way it's looking at me."
Lucon will quickly exit the trophy room, hovering by the library door, ready to head through the northwestern door when the others are ready to move on. Somewhat intimidated by the towering bookshelves, he instead stares covetously at the armchair in the middle of the room. "That is some chair. Do you think the mayor would notice if it was gone?" he says, jokingly.
Enko looks through the titles of the books wonderingly, searching for something that might offer up a clue.
Sabinus is thrilled to find himself in the presence of the stuffed owlbear. "I wonder if I could put one of those to sleep, he muses." And he's equally enthralled by the library: [b]"You all go ahead, I'm just going to stay here and see if the Mayor has any books about really strange things."[b] Sabinus investigates both rooms with the aid of detect magic.
Enko doesn't spot anything related to Aberian's Folley itself, in his search around the library.
Despite the variety and richness of the books available, none of them register as magic to Sabinus's otherworldly senses. Some of the more interesting texts include; How to Be a King, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, A Monk's Journey to Enlightenment, The Barbarian in All of Us and other such titles.
As the others beginning browsing through the mayor's library, Caladius quietly pulls Ava aside. "So, I'm thinking that lock we found isn't hiding a son at all, but something important. Really important. If I were the mayor, and it was something really, really important, I'd keep one key and I'd keep it on me or in my room. Where would you keep it?"
"I think you might be right." Ava nods in agreement. "I'd probably keep it in its own hidden cache somewhere - a secret compartment..." she thinks for a moment. "Or maybe that'd be too obvious. Perhaps it's just hidden amongst the other keys to the house. Was there a housekeeper or chamberlain here who would have such a collection of keys?"
She asks the question as much to herself as the others, trying to recall what she'd seen earlier.
Corneleous finds several books about the history, danger, need of, and fictional stories about magic, but no books specifically arcane in nature.
Also, after doing an appraisal of the more rare and ancient titles, you surmise the wealth of this room is probably between fifteen and twenty thousand gold pieces worth of quality books.
Ava recalls meeting Crosael Simiin Rasdovain, the Mayors majordomo, the equivalent of a chamberlain.
At one point a servant, with a pretty female servant in tow, opens one of the doors to this room, see's you all ready and examining the books and quickly mumbles an apology before backing right out again.
After spending some time looking around, Sabinus exits the library through the door to the West and listens at the door on the West wall in the hallway.
As Sabinus listens, all he really notes is the absolute silence on the other side of the door.
"As much as I would like to stay here and read all these books, I think we should move on. I don't hear anything through the door in that hallway. Should we go through there next? Who wants to open the door?"
Lucon, fidgeting by the door, will be eagerly oblige, ducking through the door and tip-toeing into the next room with exaggerated care.
"...there was a missing servant...who absconded with a bust of Asmodeus...perhaps they stumbled into a hidden room..." Enko says, uncertainly, unsure if it's relevant to the current situation.
Lucon's entry reveals a hallway, lined with guest bedrooms and a privy. All of the doors to these rooms are open, except the western-most, which has a bow tie handing on the handle. Unnoticed by Sabinus before, but quite audible now, are the sounds of... people enjoying their time together behind that far door.
Ava nods, considering Enko's words. "That's possible. Perhaps it's worth checking the servant's quarters for clues as well."
Sabinus does a quick scan of the empty guest rooms with detect magic.
They are entirely devoid of magic, as far as Sabinus can tell.
"Shall we explore the other side of this floor? It seems highly unlikely that what we seek is in the one occupied room in this area..."
"Sabinus, I am in complete agreement," says Enko. He walks to the doorway to signal Caladius and Corneleous that the group is headed south.
Cautiously poking your heads back out you wait until the coast is clear and hustle over to the southern door, passing a central door to the west. The guards, more distracted than ever, continue on in some semblance of a patrol, but you're pretty sure at least one of them is heavily intoxicated, judging by the meandering nature of his footfalls. Likewise, the servants have been reduced to all but an infrequent trickle, and those you do see are more careful about stepping upon passed out patrons, than stopping at every guest. In fact, if anyone who is sober and alert happens to see your group, your own alertness might well stand out worse than anything else...
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A house filled with magic, powered by devil, and yet has one room devoid of magic? Suspicious!
The Viscount has a near gazebo moment, scanning the room before moving on.
Perhaps we shouldn't be the only sober looking individuals here. Quick, someone of the female persuasion pretend to sloshingly neck with me!
Looking left and right, Ava heaves out a sigh. "Fine."
She quickly ducks out of view, taking on the guise of a very dishevelled servant before staggering back out and seizing the viscount's hand.
"Oh, Laza- *hic* Llama-, uh, lazazarod, hold me~!" She collapses onto him, giggling uncontrollably. She leans in close, her hair brushing against the Viscount's cheek and whispers: "Don't try anything funny."
Lucon, aghast, turns his wide eyes to the Viscount. "Milord! That's no way to speak to a lady..." he begins, protest dying in his throat as Ava obliges. Already flushed from the wine, Lucon turns beet red, taking several paces ahead of the group, walking briskly across the hall, rubbing his eyes as he tries to will what he just witnessed out of existance.
"Ugh. This again. Where'd Ava get to? She's better with locks." Caladius then shoulders past the Viscount and, unknowingly, Ava. He offers the Viscount a dark look, "Don't have too much fun with you fan there, Larazod. Hmpf."
A passing guard gives Corneleous a knowing grin and an exaggerated wink when he see's the servant nuzzling up to him, before continuing on his way. Calseinica happens to come up the stairs at that exact moment, apparently looking for you all, but when she spots the amorous embrace, she claps a hand to her mouth, turns, and rushes back downstairs.
Caladius is able to easily surmise the southern door is unlocked, and peeking inside as the guards rotate away, reveals a short and empty hallway, everyone hustling inside. There are two doors in here, one on either side of the hallway.
Sabinus will listen at the door to the West, and if he doesn't hear anything he'll open it.
Hearing nothing, Sabinus steps inside to find:
A35. Guest Lounge:
Several chairs and sofas sit in this well-lit room, a place for guests to relax or take meals. There's a stairway leading down, and an open door in the northwest corner. Following it reveals several more guest bedrooms, all miraculously unoccupied.
"Hmpf. Nothing but chairs and sofas. And a whole slew of empty bedrooms. Wish I'd known about these earlier. Why are these all empty anyway?"
"Look! A secret door!" Sabinus quickly checks the present room with detect magic, then walks over to the secret door.
Other than the lights on the walls, nothing registers as magic in this room.
"Traps," murmurs Enko.
"Let's look in the bedrooms and then go down that hallway."
Enko inspects each room quickly.
Upon closer inspection Enko notices small cards set upon each bed, naming various guests as the intended person in the room.
Sabinus will peek in the guest rooms using detect magic. "I agree it would be good to check the secret door for traps -- Ava? Based on the direction it seems to lead towards the dungeon, which may not be the most likely place for the mirror we seek."
There is no magic found in the guest rooms, other than the lights, and those are faint. Actually the stumbling upon the secret door revealed it in such a way that, if there had been traps, they would have sprung upon discovery. So at this point Sabinus can say, with confidence, that the newly discovered secret door, is untrapped.
"It sounds like one of the service preparation areas is downstairs."
"Two people approach!" says Enko, careful not to use any hissing ess sounds in his whisper. "Into the long hallway now and close the door behind us!" He gestures emphatically at Lucon to duck in and lead the way.
Sabinus follows Enko's instructions.
Snapping to attention, Lucon lumbers out into the hallway and opens the door across the hall, looking for a place to hide.
Caladius frowns back toward the hall then slips into the hidden passage with the others.
Ava pushes free from the Viscount after the guard leaves, raising an eyebrow as she spots Calseinica's reaction. She pats the Viscount on the shoulder before following Enko's lead. "Good luck with that."
Enko slips in near to last (and secures the door if no one else does).
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Ava pushes free from the Viscount after the guard leaves, raising an eyebrow as she spots Calseinica's reaction. She pats the Viscount on the shoulder before following Enko's lead. "Good luck with that."
Oof. I'd have no luck at all, if it weren't for bad luck. Quick, let us follow the others before she comes back with something heavy.
The Viscount follows.