After perusing the titles for a few minutes, one book stands out to Maria--The Saga of Galitian Maramaxus. Fitted into the cut pages of that book is small piece of curved, rectangular glass that fits the crystal ball!
Replacing the piece causes the ball to glow softly. Peering into it, you can see a view of the storage room. Though the room is dark, faint light glows from a portion of the fresco in that chamber.
As she took The Saga of Galitian Maramaxus off the shelf, she noticed the weight being off somehow and shook it, feeling something moving around within the book. With a brief "hmm", she opened the book and flicked through to find the piece of glass. "Should've guessed, really; following a trail of breadcrumbs in a safehouse clearly made by a fan of the Fourth Army of Exploration and of Galitian Maramaxus in particular. The pre-eminent book about the man himself should've been my first guess. Not exactly disappointed by the damage to the pages, though; been a while since I read it but I recall it being a little overly-congratulatory - probably written on coin from the Maramaxus estate. Only a book funded by the subject or his family would title it a 'saga' when it's only one volume."
She swiftly fit the shard into the crystal ball and observed the image. "The breadcrumb continues, as does the designer's obsession with Maramaxus. If it were any more excessive, I'd be expecting this to be indicating the man's codpiece."
Melodie obediently begins putting on the armor, which she obviously finds difficult. Once on, it doesn't appear to hamper her excessively though.
Although Melodie sees the items glowing, she can't tell what they do.
She is interested in the crystal ball however, especially once the final curved piece is added. "What's the purpose of this? It must be to show us something?"
Fresh faced, hair braided, Sara returns from the bathroom to find everyone gathered around the crystal ball. "Anyone object to me destroying a piece of cultural history? I think it's saying our next clue is behind that wall painting."
She briefly waits for a reply before moving into the other room, picking up a longsword and slamming its pommel into the wall, hoping to dislodge any loose bricks or trick spots in the plaster.
"Before you go break- she's already left the room, hasn't she?"
Entering the room right after Sara takes the pommel to the fresco, she could only sigh. "I was going to say; maybe try touching or pressing the highlighted section before treating it like you did Trant's face. Could've been indicating a hidden switch or the like worked into the fresco, not behind it."
"It all leads to the same place, Maria. Somewhere along or behind this wall painting we're going to find another clue, maybe more. And if I start with the section I remember," she dents a dwarf's face in, "then we both get to be satisfied. I'm not going to sit and play this ancient noble's game when we could just work around it. He clearly didn't trust us to leave on our own, so why play along at all? It's insulting!"
”There’s also the possibility that you are currently irrepairably destroying the very magical or mechanical equipment necessary for our escape, thereby turning these four rooms into our tomb!. Not to mention that the person who built this place is almost certainly dead of old age, making your indignation a complete waste of time.”
Those looking into the scrying device after Sara smashes the pommel of the sword into the fresco notice that a second portion of it has now begun to glow.
"If you're right and I'm wrong, you get to eat me first. If I'm right, however," she wipes a bead of sweat off her brow before returning to her task, "I guess you would owe me an investigation. Sound reasonable?" She bashes it more, seemingly at random.
”You’ll get a discount, can’t promise more than that until I know what you want me investigating - our rates vary based on the difficulty and particulars of the case.”
Zhi notes the change in the fresco as she views it through the crystal ball.
"Wait!" Zhi calls out loudly. "There's a different section glowing now!"
She then describes the newly illuminated portion of the art.
"Maybe just try pressing it this time instead of pummeling it!
Stubbornly, Sara knocks in Maramaxus's horse when told to press it. She continues following instructions as long as they are given, sticking her tongue out at Maria before she says anything smart.
Sara touches the section that Zhi describes, causing a third section to light up. This continues until six regions have been touched. Then, the fresco splits open, revealing a hidden niche. Inside is a small bag holding 20 magically charged coins marked with the symbol of House Voritas.
"See I would have got there eventually," says Sara, counting the coins.
"More bygod puzzles, who was this pompous ass," she whispers.
She brings the bag back to the others. "Alright, we got twenty gold, who wants to play strip poker? Zileska, you in?" Divvying them out equally, she points out the Voritas symbol, the same linnorm/unicorn battle as on their badges.
"Call me paranoid but I think this has something more to do with the mystery. Anyone seen a coin slot around here?"
Melodie squints at the coins, looking confused. "Those are magical. I'm not sure how though..." She ponders for a while. "Why wold anyone hide coins behind a wall? What could they do?"
Suddenly her face lights up. "Wasn't there a slot in the wall somewhere? Would these fit into that?"
"Yeah. Maria, Didn't you mention a coin slot in the master suite? Let's try there first."
Without waiting for a response, Zhi moves to the other room to look for the slot. Once she finds it, she wastes no time in inserting one of the coins.
When Zhi places a coin in the slot, a shimmering portal appears in the floor of the master suite. The rogue is able to remove the coin and the portal stays open.
Stepping into the portal transports you to a 15-foot-wide tunnel. The magical doorway appears on the southern wall of the hall. A set of stairs descends into a briefly lowered hall, before a second set of stairs rises to the north. The northern end of this hall ends with an elaborate brass lever.
A single hooded lantern rests on the ground here, flickering with a magical blue light.
Sara takes the other candles in case they'll need more light later on before following Zhi. "Oh hell yeah, I used to have one of these," she says, ditching the lit candle for the lantern.
"So now we get to find out where we actually are," Zhi says quietly to Sara as she moves forward, rapier in hand to pull the lever.
Pulling the lever causes a secret door to swing open. Chiseled stone statues of Taldan Phalanx soldiers stand atop plinths in the outer corners, visible from any point in this ominous hall. Sturdy wooden doors line the outer edge of the hall.
The fresh, bloody corpse of a noble man sprawls across the floor of the hall near the western intersection.
Zileska watches all of the puzzle-proceedings with some degree of interest (it's better than being bored); when the hallway with the corpse is found, she says, "This body... someone trying to get in? Or exiting another chamber? Either way, makes me suspect some kind of trap that protects the rooms we were just in." She glances dubiously at the statues. "Maria, what do you think?"
Zhi moves forward cautiously to check the body and see if she can determine what killed him as well as peek around the corner.
Peeking around the corner reveals more of the hallway before it turns back to the east. The man's body bears evidence of deep claw marks.
The story Zhi overheard in the archives comes to her mind--how the workers who dug out the chambers below the senate were immured in the walls as a "reward." She glances at the wall in time to see a shape start to emerge. The torso of a humanoid figure with jagged claws extends outward from the wall, its features patterned with the texture of the stone around it!
Maria spent most of the time with the fresco glaring at Sara and her impatience. The reveal of the coins had her roll her eyes at Sara's suggestion. "Well, at least this step isn't difficult," she remarked before Melodie and Zhi mentioned the coin slot she'd found earlier.
She'd already had her sword drawn when they came across the corpse, then the creature made itself known. Maria raced forward, stabbing at the creature with her blade.
"Undead," says Zileska as she moves down the hall. "Beware, it can stretch its claws some distance from the wall. Like that," she says as it likely takes its AoO from reach when Maria charges in.
From her position against the opposite side of the hall, she grasps the wasp-shaped holy symbol around her neck and presents it firmly.
Melodie yelps as the creature emerges from the wall and grabs Sara's arm. "How do we stop it?"
The creature recoils as Zileska channels positive energy towards it, though it seems to resist the brunt of the blast.
As Melodie grasps Sara's arm anxiously, Maria charges forward, stabbing the manifestation with her sword cane. She punches a hole in its chest, and it thrashes about angrily.
Shifting its focus to the tiefling, the monster rakes at her with its jagged claws! It tears rents in her leather duster, but doesn't pierce the armor.
Sara starts to run, still holding the lantern in one hand, in the other, the new long sword she had used to get them out. As Melodie grabs her arm, she stumbles and the sheath flies off in the direction of the combat,
solidly bonking the walcofinde on the head.
Zhi recovers from her initial surprise by moving into a low stance and thrusting forward with the rapier.
Her eyes go wide as her first usage of the narrow blade in combat went exactly how it did in practice.
Grimacing about the damage to her coat, Maria struck again hoping to put it down quickly.
Zileska steps slightly further down the corridor and casually lobs a large martiobarbuli at the wall-creeper.
Melodie, lacking any sort of weapon - ranger or otherwise - hangs back from the fight and looks around for anything she might usefully do...
Sara's hurled sheath smashes the walcofinde in the head, knocking a large chunk of stone out of the creature's manifestation. Zileska's dart falls short of the target, and Maria's sword-cane scrapes against its stony form.
Having delivered a precise strike earlier, Zhi stabs the walcofinde with the rapier again. The rogue deals another critical blow, and the walcofinde thrashes about before its torso suddenly appears to be sucked back into the wall and disappears, the creature slain!
This is no time to rest on your laurels, though. Looking around, Melodie notices a second walcofinde manifesting nearby. She shouts a warning as it emerges from the wall near her and Sara!
"Over there!" Melodie yells, backing away from the newly emerging creature. "Another one!" Her attention this time is much more focused on the emerging threat.
Sara places her body between Melodie and the creature, swinging the lantern in the air between them and the undead, hoping the cold flames spook it.
Stepping back from where the previous creature had emerged (and transferring her sword cane's scabbard to her tail), Maria retrieved one of her darts and threw it at the newly-emerged one.
"How many of these things are there?" Zhi asks, her voice rising.
She moves towards the new one.
Zileska turns and hurls another dart at the new target.
Sara swings the lantern at the walcofinde in an attempt to scare it off, but it does not react to the cold blue flames.
Zileska hurls another dart, this one sticking into the undead's torso. The wound is enhanced by Melodie's strange vocalizations. Maria's dart falls short of her foe.
Zhi runs up to the creature, and it extends its claws as she draws near. She narrowly manages to twist away, the claws shredding through her shift but not touching her skin. She stabs the monster with her rapier.
The creature continues to focus on the rogue, slashing twice more. This time it manages to land a hit, drawing three bloody lines in Zhi's torso.
Zhi looks down at the shredded remains of her remaining dignity and then back at the undead foe.
"Watashi wa anata ga akuma o kusatte kureru koto o nozomimasu!" she snarls at it.
With that she moves in to stab at the creature.
Feeling both protective and vengeful (first for Melodie's safety and secondly for Zhi's clothes), Sara takes a brave few steps toward the creature. Less than confident with her sword, she swings it wildly, accidentally slapping it.
As it slashed at Zhi, Maria darted in to stab at it with her sword.
Melodie continues to watch the creature, shouting warnings and advice when the creature appears to leave an opening.
Zileska moves back down the other side of the hall and prepares to provide more healing power if the creature happens to strike someone again.
Sara slaps the walcofinde with the flat of her blade, bashing a chunk of stone from its manifestation. Zileska moves closer, clutching her holy symbol. Maria darts in, dodging its claws but failing to land a solid blow. Zhi's rapier likewise scrapes harmlessly against stone.
The monster shifts its attention to Sara. As it attacks, an illusory duplicate of the fighter appears! The monster tears through the mirror image, leaving Sara unscathed.
Hoping that there won't be too many more of these things down here, Maria lashed out once more.
Zhi continues the battle in silence, holding her stance and stabbing forward in perfect form.
Maria's attack goes wide, but Zhi delivers an expert thrust into the walcofinde's chest. It thrashes and recedes into the wall once more. You wait for several tense seconds, but no more creatures manifest. It seems it was only the two that haunted the hallway.
After a few moments, you hear a voice call out from the western hallway. "Hello? Is...anybody alive out there?" Those of you who choose to look down the hall will see a nervous nobleman peeking out from the second doorway along the hall.
Zhi's eyes go wide as she hears the man's voice call out. Looking down at the bloodied lines across her belly and the rent shift exposing more skin then she's comfortable with, she hangs the rapier from the bag strap over her shoulder and covers herself with her hands.
"Yes, we're here!" she says looking at the others. "Just a moment!"
"Does anyone have anything I can cover with?" she whispers earnestly.
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Startled by the man's voice, Sara abruptly drops her sword, clattering and clanging. She hurriedly squats in an attempt to pick it up. "I think so, yes. We're all alive in fact, right ladies?"
Zhi's eyes go wide as she hears the man's voice call out. Looking down at the bloodied lines across her belly and the rent shift exposing more skin then she's comfortable with, she hangs the rapier from the bag strap over her shoulder and covers herself with her hands.
"Yes, we're here!" she says looking at the others. "Just a moment!"
"Does anyone have anything I can cover with?" she whispers earnestly.
Annoyed, Sara bends over and awkwardly pulls down her petticoat, offering it to Zhi. "It's not much, but it's more than you're wearing now. Zhi," she stares her in the eye and hands her the bustle. "You're returning this."
She rights herself and moves to retrieve her scabbard. "Of course not all of us are alive," she mutters, glancing at the dead body as she sheathes the longsword. Poor fool. Calling back, she asks, "Anyone alive in there?"
Pulling her skirt just so so as not to dirty it, Sara kneels down beside the corpse, both to see if she recognizes him from the party above and surreptitiously remove his valuables in a practiced and professional manner. This was always exciting, when a dead body came with presents. Enough to make one giddy.