Andrea walks down the stairs that they were lead up when the servant showed them their rooms and stops at the base looking around for a servant. If she sees one, she waves them over. Excuse me, has the mayor been taken to his room? He said that he wished to see Lucrezia after the party, but if he is still indisposed in his chair, I will tell Lucrezia that she will have to wait until another time.
Oh dear. Thank you very much for that information, I will inform Lucrezia about that. Andrea then heads back up ad tells Lucrezia this. He is passe dout in his chair, I can go get the keys if you want.
Thank you, I will ask if Lucrezia still wishes to see him. Andrea heads back upa nd tells Lucrezia. He is in his room, do you want to be escorted over and then search? I can follow invisibly and then charm the mayor while he is distracted and then we can get info from him
Howdy.... Is this a different show? I was bored being in strange place and couldn't sleep. Decided to just start exploring and see if anything else was like the honey fountain. We will leave. Does this go somewhere intersting? Tweaker points to the stairs and moves to them. He waits for a response.
The guy mumbles, "do I look like h..h..housssse ssservant? the girls laugh at the comment. They wave you and Duncan to shoo away. when you are near the stairs leading down.
Andrea you will come across two servants down the stairs. "The good Mayor already has company this evening in his room. He does not desire to be interrupted."
Andrea you will come across two servants down the stairs. "The good Mayor already has company this evening in his room. He does not desire to be interrupted."
Andrea thanks the two and heads back up, giving Lucrezia and Orsin the news. So you lucked out there at least. So, should we try to retrive Duncana nd Tweaker and make a plan how to do this?
Orsin and Lucrezia, Andrea comes back up the stairs with news and a possible game plan.
Duncan was tiring of the fruitless search, Bah, we need more booze ye fool. Party will be over with no more booze, come this way. Duncan indicates back the way they came...
Okay, here are some things that look like places we can search and people we know about.
The attic supposedly has a deformed family member of the mayor hidden away. Andrea ticks things off on her fingers. The room of honey has bleeding rose bushes and maggots in the petals? That might have something do do with infernal powers.
The woman who called out our names at the start was the majordomo. Currently she is somewhere in the manor but we do not know where.
The mayor is off partying in his room right now
SOmething is wrong with the lights, people say spirits but it might have somethign to do with the Knot or the Nessian Spiral in the baement. I really think we should stay away from there. If we can check out what powers the mights we might find soemthing.
The manor has three floors. Main,Attic and this floor I believe. Plus the mentained Knot and Spiral which are demiplanes.
The sky ceiling in the main hall had an image of a devil fly past. I don't know if that means it has a conenction tot he Knot or there is an infernal guardian.
Andrea sighs. So we need to be smart in our search, too many servants and guards wandering around to let us poke into every room.
One of the girls in the room giggles when Duncan mentions more booze, "To Brooze!" she proclaims while holding up her goblet.
Coming in at the end of her speech Duncan and Tweaker (hope he followed me) arrive.
I reckon we check out this kid in the attic. People hide stuff in Attics and since they are storage places there might be no guards, traps fer the sneak of course, but maybe the mirror is up there?
Well it is an out of the way place. I doubt that the mayor wants someone fiddling with the wrong mirror and getting killed by the trap. So at least we will be able to cross the attic off the list if it is not there.
So perhaps Duncan and Tweaker locate the way up to the attic and then come back for us if they find the mirror.
If it gets down to it, I can use magic to charm a servent and have them tell us where the attic is and even the major domo's location.
Lucrezia states, "I will do anything necessary. Andrea's plan sounds good."
Since Orsin and I arn't very good at stealth, we might try a rather crude but effective way of helping. As I said, I have one charm spell available and I believe Orsin can use that magic as well. So, how about we charm a servant or two for info?
"Waitaminute..."
Orsin says quickly, tumbling over his own words.
"Andrea, you're a genius!"
"Maybe we don't have to charm anybody. The Knot is supposed to be hidden inside a mirror, right? Well, are we sure it's a literal mirror? The enchantment on the ceiling is a mirror of the outside sky, isn't it? Do you think the magic ceiling is the mirror we're looking for? Andrea, you DID say that the devil in the illusion might have meant a connection to the knot and it already would radiate magic, making it the perfect hiding spot for a portal to a pocket plane. I think it warrants investigation."
Well let us do it. No sense lollygagging around. We will at least be in a good position to zap someone with a charm. We will need to get up to the ceiling though.
The attic
The sky window
The honey pool and bleeding bushes
The flicking lights
The mayor
The Majordomo
Lucrezia will ask, "Which way up to the attic or down to the honeypool area?"
"How are we supposed to get to the ceiling? I doubt they leave ladders just laying about the place."
Honeypool is right down next to the main dining hall. It is where Tweaker foudnt hat secret door.
You are right Lucrezia, we will need a ladder to check out the ceiling. We can at least check the area out to make sure though. Duncan can detect magic and Tweaker and yoruself can look around for clues.
"Maybe even throwing a pebble through the illusion and seeing if it comes back down? I confess, I haven't given it much thought, but there's something...poetic about it, I suppose. That's all the claim I really have."
Works for me, let us get going. Lucrezia and Duncan are our stealthy sorts, so they can have a look. Orsin can detect magic as well so he can help.
There are the set of stairs we were shown up by the servent(Ones in A37) If Lucrezia sneaks down she can look around to make sure there are no servants. Then Duncan cans can the ceiling for magic.
Lucrezia will sneak down the set of stairs that Andrea indicates and then looks about carefully for anyone else along the way and in the room. Then she'll sneak back up and tell them what she has or hasn't seen.
Ok. Orsin and Lucrezia downstairs to the place where the window is. JUst BS about John and I boinking and wanting to just sit down to get away from the noise. Orsin can look up and scan the ceiling.
Lucrezia snickers at Andrea's idea. "Sure thing Andrea. Maybe you and John should get into a compromising position just in case someone comes up to check out our story?"
Duncan will sneak down with Lucrezia and Scan the Sky Ceiling. And the plants and tapestries.
If it will help the cause I am all for it. Andrea knocks on John's door and invites herself in.
Pardon me John, do you mind if we pretend to be having sex? Orsin and Lucrezia are doing a little scouting and need a cover story about getting away from our red-hot passion.
Andrea arranges her clothes so it looks more revealing.
Orsin when on the bridge over the Garden of Earthy Pleasures you have a good view of the ceiling. There is one moderate aura focused on the ceiling.
When staring at the ceiling you look look back and notice second floor ballroom and its balcony. There is, also, a Voyeaur's walkway that overlooks the main banquet hall, the Garden of Earthly Pleasures, the Pool of Honey room and the Jungle of Nectar room.
Duncan shakes his head as he and Lucrezia head down...
Orsin, Duncan and Lucrezia one thing you notice is you don't really need to sneak down here. The guests are passed out or engaged in drunken activites. The servants simply nod at you, the honored guests.
"Or you know we could just lock the door so people would have to know first.'
You are right. Gods, my mind is so out of my head right now. I drank and ate too much.
Andrea locks the door and gets her clothes back on. As she sits down, she holds her head on her hand and just sits quietly.
Orsin grabs a copper piece and throws it into the ceiling, seeing if it disappears into the illusion.
Duncan you don't see anything magical about the tapestries in the Banquet Hall, but you do notice that the large 6 foot wide, 14 ft tall black stone door that does have a faint magical aura, abjuration school.
Orsin grabs a copper piece and throws it into the ceiling, seeing if it disappears into the illusion.
The cooper coin hits the ceiling and bounces back down to the floor.
Duncan when you detect magic on the roses they come up with a moderate aura - identical to ceiling - but you are unable to determine the school of magic. The pool of honey itself is not magical, it is quite real.
From Tweaker's earlier exploration of the secret hallway he knows it leads to the kitchen area and he figures to the Garden of Earthly Pleasures. The hallway acting as a simple shortcut for the staff to access those areas. He decides to go find the actual kitchen entrance which he does easily enough. There are several cooks in the prep kitchen getting ready for breakfast. They look up smiling, "Can we get you anything?'
He points to a basket of apples on a table.
Just to let everyone know, the problem is with me. I decided to drop as I was getting too confused and feeling like I was ready to just sit back and let my character be pointed at where he was needed and roll the dice. I greatly enjoyed the group and way the game is going. I do not know why I keep misunderstanding what everyone else was seeing but rather than just sit in the background decided not to cause problems for the group. I don't think anyone would have wanted me to stay and just roll dice.
So were there any mirrors in the Room of Honey,Main Dining Hall and areas Duncan,Orsin and Lucrezia are in now?
Or any reflective surfaces that could be considered mirror like?
There is the ceiling, but Orsin pinged a rock off it and nothing seemed to happen. Looked like a real long shot anyway, We can use Detect Magic on the little stream and just sweep the main rooms. ("Just appricitaing the fine woodwork'")
Andrea and Lucrecia there are no mirrors in the banquet room or the garden areas. The banquet hall is decorated with disturbing landscapes of a twisted hell which looks like Westcrown itself. What is noticeable is in the entrance hall most of the portraits of former mayors have been taken down.
Tweaker begins a conversation with the cooking staff trying to feel out for information about the majordomo, "So where'd Madame Rasdovain go tonight?" He pauses and continues, "She mentioned I should go to her office tomorrow, where is that by the way?"
One of the prep cooks smiles, "Oh, she left after the second course, I believe before Lady Drovenge." He thinks a few seconds, "took a carriage too." She continues to roll out the pastry dough. "her office is right next to the main door off the the entrance." He points out the door Tweaker entered indicating the direction. "Her bed chamber is on the other side of the house by the servant quarters."
With that information Tweaker thanks them and heads out of the prep kitchen.
Duncan gives the room one final look
He gives Lucrezia a look that says "bugger this" and moves to head backup stairs.
Sneaking up on a monster is one thing....
He was slightly frustrated that he could take the easy way and simply torture the damn Mayor.
But he was not THAT dwarf anymore...
As Duncan heads towards the stairs, Tweaker comes out of the prep kitchen. "Did you find anything? I found out a few things."