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Kardas took his time to memorize the same spells he memorizes every day. The Raumviran spent considerable time cleaning his blade, repairing his armor, and making sure every potion and scroll is where it ought to be. Unlike Ishta, however, he doesn't feel like they're up against the odds. Righteous fury rarely feels that way.
"If it could destroy us that easily, it already would have. Even now it is hiding, cowering behind others. It knows defeat is a possibility and that we aren't like it, that we will face it no matter what, no matter where. It is equal parts evil and pathetic, and with Auryl as my witness, as She feasts on my anger and, in return, gives me clarity of mind, I will undo this cruel mockery of power and rid Phlan of its evil."
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The Paladin just smiles at his fellow Watcher of Dawn. Pride and trust are seen easily on the stoic gold elf's face.
All right, Watchers, this may be dangerous, so let's put on our mean faces.
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When everybody is ready, Ishta calls for some magic to protect the Watchers from magical scrying.
"This will give us a small protection from some kinds of espionage. Not a guarantee, but it might help. Now, what do you want me to do? Teleport us?"
Yes, unless any of you want to try something else. I think it might be safest to teleport there and then proceed.
"Fine!" Ishta confirms with a smile, not even waiting for the others - she knows they'll follow Azarra, as she would do, and trust her good reasoning.
With a quick magic word and a gesture, they're gone.
Ishta asked you to form a circle while holding hands, with precise inflection she intoned her spell and there was a moment of dislocation when the world seemed to turn grey and then you were in Von Urslingen's study.
The room was exactly as Azarra had found it. Cautiously you explored the other rooms in this area, it's a corridor with five offices one for each councillor all locked. There's room for the sectorial staff which is empty, bar some locked filing cabinets and a neat stack of rather tedious looking correspondence.
The place is cold and smells of dust, you get the sense you're alone. Still there's a niggling feeling at the back of your mind, and you're on edge despite the lack of an immediate threat.
Azarra picks the locks.
Quietly.
The first door was Bishop Braccio's after a minute of picking Azarra was able to finesse the lock which opened with a satisfying click. Braccio's office was spartan with a layer of dust on every surface. You know he preferred to conduct his business from the Temple of Tymora so perhaps this wasn't too surprising.
The second door was Councillor Cardona's which proved to be annoyingly stubborn, it had five pins and while she could easily get three of them set, every time she tried for a fourth it would end up in a deep false set and when she tried to let off the tension a little all the pins would fall back out. She even tried bumping and raking to no avail.
Councillor Earhart's door also put up quite a struggle but Azarra managed to get all the pins set after a while and the door opened to reveal a very tidy office. There were tasteful paintings on the walls, a fine Caleshite rug with a large bloodstain. The writing desk looked expensive and slumped over this was the remains of the Councillor. He died a while back judging from the state of the body, cause of death apparently suicide based by the nature of the wounds and the razor still grasped in his hands. However the look of horror on his decomposing face makes you wonder what really happened here.
Councillor Eaberhard's door by contrast felt easy, it was the same design as all the others and Azarra had warmed up to the task and she popped it open in under a minute. All the furniture had been moved into the middle of the room and was under sheets to protect it from the dust.
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Kardas falls in behind and scans for any direct threats. His eyes were never blessed when it came to spotting things far down the horizon, and after plenty of adventuring, it's now safe to say his eyes aren't blessed at finding hidden things around and right in front of him.
The sight of Earhart does rattle the man. The slumped figure and its frozen expression of horror and agony is a harsh reminder that victory as a concept is sweeter than the actual thing when sacrifices have been made. "Take solace, councilor, for we're about to right this wrong. May you and all the others get to see its soul arrive, be torn to shreds, and then cursed to eternal condemnation."
The words might not warm up Earhart's heart with hope, but they manage to keep the swordmage's spirits up.
___
(pass)
Azarra realizes that they are in a mindscape, and explains this (and the way out of it) to the group, if they didn't hear the magic mouth themselves.
Azarra realizes that if Braccio hadn't left the spell behind for them, they likely would have been caught for a very long time in this mindscape.
Ser Armithia begins grinding his perfect elven teeth in frustration.
Sitting on the job then?
"Just a minute, please..."
Issues takes her time to check for magic auras, in an attempt to decide whether the magic mouth has been truly left here by Braccio. "If the aura seems too strong then we should be wary" she explains.
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The aura was fading rapidly now the spell had discharged. Ishta couldn't be certain if Braccio had indeed cast the spell but what she saw was consistent with him having done so.
"Alright, there's no way to be completely sure, but it seems legit." Ishta wonders if she can trust her senses anyway, but there's no alternative so she decidedly walks towards the chairs.
Azarra's second attempt at picking Cardona's room goes much better, ending with a satisfying click. She gingerly turns the handle to reveal an almost entirely empty room, although unlike some of the other's there's no dust.
The only piece of furniture is a desk upon which is a small picture holder, however rather than a piece of art it holds a piece of card with what appears to be the mummified tip of a pinky finger. Below this was written in beautiful flowing handwriting a rather chilling note.
'Grandson - A little reminder for the price of disobedience, next time I won't be so magnanimous.'
Azarra is glad to see that Cardona tried to resist at some point, although it doesn't matter much now.
She searches the desk to see if there is anything else. If not, they head downstairs.
Ser Armithia will approach the chairs initially to make certain there is nothing waiting for them.
Looks safe.
You walk down the stairs and through deserted offices to the main council chamber. The chamber was just as you remembered it, a wide open space with a raised stage at the back with five chairs arranged in semi-circle facing the room. It's decor was well crafted but plain wood and plaster. Nothing stirs as you enter, the room seems strangely forlorn, devoid of life and laughter.
You inspect the chairs, they seem mundane enough with no magical auras or hidden traps. In fact there are no magics you can detect in the area bar the ones you brought with you. As best as you can tell your are utterly alone, yet the backs of your necks prickle as if you are watched with great intensity.
With legendary patience of the elves, Ser Armithia runs to sit first!
Azarra checks the seat locations against her memory of being in this room previously, just to make sure they haven't been switched around, then sits in Braccio's seat, starting to hum something under her breath.
Kardas waits for Azarra to finish her check and then, with trepidation, lowers himself onto the cushioned seat.
Ishta joins her friends, letting her regal backside rest on one of the chairs.
One by one you sit on the chairs and at first nothing happens but with a start you find yourselves waking as if from a particularly vivid dream. You seem unable or rather unwilling to move, for you are in a crowded hall, a rather different one from the austere hall you were in or perhaps dreamt you where in moments ago. This hall is larger and richly decorated with better acoustics.
There's an awful lot of people here, all sitting down and listening intently to a speaker at the far end who drones on and on. Some of the people around you seem to be taking notes as if this was a lecture, which perhaps it is.
A fog slowly lifts from your minds and you realise you know a lot of the people here! In the front row there's Councillor von Urslingen, next to him is Judge Tully, and then there's Watch Captain Ajit and Sergeant Zolonsho. Behind them are Delenn and Lenoir, and Talia and Friar Jenkins. In the row behind them are some of the girls you rescued from the cult of mask and various other citizens, even one of the street urchins you've received messages from. Else where in the room are some of the half elves rescued by Azarra although her parents don't seem to be present.
At the far end of the hall, it a rather large and ostentatious blue crystal throne. It's frankly rather ugly, decorated with carved bas reliefs of the heads of screaming mages. Pontificating from it, is the larger than life (literally, he's twice the size of everyone else) form of Councillor Cardona Jr.
You hear him say, "... And now onto item #127. Chickens offend me, they shall be banned form the city forthwith. And now onto item #128, it has come to my attention that some of you wish to dance." He pointed at several people the front, saying "You and you shall now dance." Talia and Judge Tully shot out of their seats and started performing a rather peculiar box dance.
Cardona ignore this and continued his pronunciations, "Item #129, the days of the week shall now have new names, write these down I shall expect everyone to be using them by the morrow: CardonaDay, JandarkDay, LordMagusDay, VictoryDay, FleaMarketDay, BathDay, BloodSacrificeDay. I shall require a gallon of fresh blood every BloodSacrificeDay." Everyone around you studiously wrote this pronunciation down.
He went on, "Item #130, everyone shall paint their house blue.". Again this was carefully written down, with several people nodding as if it was a brilliant suggestion.
While this farce was going on you found yourselves able to talk quietly among yourselves, although this earned disapproving looks from the citizens around you. You felt compelled to sit for the time-being, although the magic seemed to be faltering...
"Are we really awake? This feels like a fever dream ...", a very confused Kardas whispers.
The question arises, how much time have you lost? You can't be certain, you still have all your stuff including the weapons from the first world but you are hungry... Perhaps you lost a few days?
Ishta notices the effect and smiles, knowing they haven't been treasoned. She discretely casts a small charm to be able to communicate with her friends without being frowned upon
"We seem to be free of the charm, but all of these people don't. We can't put them in danger."
Azarra is relieved that some people they care about are still alive, and nods at Ishta, agreeing with her and thanking her for casting Message so they can speak relatively silently.
She whispers
First step, destroy the chair?
She wonders what Jandark the Lich has cooked up here... whatever it is, it is not looking good. She doesn't want to risk all of these people's lives. If that was the cost of success, how was it different from failure?
As time progresses you feel the bands of compulsion fade away until you suspect they where gone entirely. Looking around the others in the room still seem to be thoroughly ensnared by the lich's magic.
At the far end of the room Cardona Junior droned on, "Item #132 Until otherwise noted, nobody is allowed to leave Phlan. All travellers shall be brought before me for reeducation."
He paused before continuing, "Item #133. I am taking suggestions for new names for the month of the year. You, you, you and you shall form a committee. You have two days to come up with pleasing and patriotic names."
He moved onto the next item, "Item #134. We need to increase our population four fold. All women of child bearing age are expected to do their part and produce one child every year for the next five years."
His insane rambling continued, "Item #135. Every boy from the age of seven till seventeen shall be tutored in arms and warfare. Item #136 there will compulsory conscription for five years of duty for every male citizen upon turning eighteen. As an exceptional case all male citizens between eighteen and forty will be conscripted."
All around there where nods and murmurs of approval. You heard several people muttering, "Its the only way to rule the moonsea, it is right we take our turn in charge."
Ser Armithia does peer intently at everybody in the chamber.
Azarra goes and takes Talia's hand and leads her over to sit on one of the Councilor's chairs, to see if that breaks the spell for her.
Kardas stays put for now and tries not to grind his teeth (too hard). The fool's never-ending list of items angers Kardas greatly, and it takes a serious amount of effort to not charge the bastard.
Azarra approaches Talia and Judge Tully who are dancing after a fashion. She grabs one of Talia's hands and the half elven women stares at her initially with mute incomprehension but then her addled brain catches up and she tells her with fever bright eyes, "Oh, Azarra! We all thought you had died. I'm glad you are not dead but now we must dance!"
Judge Tully echoed her, "Yes we must! Our lord and master wishes us to dance"
He makes a grab for Azarra's other hand but misses and he frowns, "Don't you want to dance? But we must!"
<--- Fail
Cardona Junior noticed Azarra's presence and he shook his head as if puzzled.
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Azarra laughs and starts dancing. Then, singing softly to inspire everyone's courage, Azarra casts Protection from Evil on Talia as she dances.
Then she stops her song and says, still smiling,
Of course, we must dance for our Lord and Master. Let's go! Follow me!
She doesn't try to pull away from Talia, but goes with it, proceeding to start a snake dance around the room and pulling Talia along with her.
She dances over to one of the councilor's chairs, steps up on top of it, dances a few steps, then lands on the seat before standing again to continue. She urges Talia to do the same.
Come on, follow the leader. Dance it up! What a party!
Ishta is not sure what to do, but everybody is dancing. Even Azarra, though clearly just to keep them incognito. She starts dancing as well, maintaining the masquerade while putting her brain in order.
There must be a way to help the other counselors the same Azarra has been trying to help Talia. Isha discretely dances her way up to one of them, trying to devise a plan.
Once the dancing resumed, Cardona nodded as if this was exactly what he expected. As you left he said, "Yes carry on dancing. Now then where was I, ah yes Item #136. All roofs must be re-tiled with terracotta tiles, no exceptions. If we're going to win the town of the year competition we need to look our part."
"Onto Item #137. In two days from now, all the dwarves in the city must be hung and their bodies burned in a pyre."
"Which brings us neatly to Item #139. Gingerbread is banned."
"Followed naturally by Item #140. Every household is to write a letter to their relatives inviting them to stay, for as long as they like, naturally which will be forever."
With a dream like expression, Talia follows Azarra and towards the rear of the room Azarra's magic takes hold. Nothing seemed to happen for a long moment then Talia flinched and sudden sweat beaded on her brow and she gave Azarra a look like a trapped animal. She made a small strangled noise before whispering urgently, "What am I doing here? Why are we dancing?!"
Shh, shh, Talia. It's okay. Keep dancing with me, and I'll explain...
Once they start dancing again, Azarra whispers to Talia ...
... Jerkwad over there is possessed by a lich. Everyone here is his puppet it seems, living in his little dreamworld. Cardona is obviously completely mad. We need to destroy the throne he installed... it must strengthen his abilities or something, and we need to get you and these people to safety if possible, so we can fight without worrying about all of you. If one of the commandments out of his mouth gives people the excuse to go... to write letters to their families or to paint their houses blue... we should use that to get some of them out of here if we can. And maybe get them some food if possible. I think people might be sick and not taking care of themselves if their experience is anything like ours.
Talia trembled but mastered herself before whispering as she danced, "The lich is crazy, I think all this is some sort of twisted game for him. Right now he wants to play happy families, encouraging us to breed as he put it. But later he wants an army to take over the moonsea area, and from there..."
When Azzara suggested looking for an excuse to go, Talia replied, "We... We could suggest he encourages dancing - a party in the main square to uh, you know, encourage procreation. Maybe suggest alcohol be served. It all feels like a bad dream, but from what I remember the Lich gives Cardona Junior some independence. The lad I think hates what's happening, maybe he'll understand and go along with it? I think the suggestion would be better coming from you, I'll lead the people out if he agrees."
Okay, I'll try that. ... And just want to say, it is VERY good to see you alive. I'm sorry we couldn't end this sooner.
Before she tries anything, she passes the plan on to the others on her team to see if anyone had tweaks or ideas, and so they could all coordinate making sure people got out so they could take care of at least one problem.
Ser Armithia shows great restraint by not using his sword on the chair....
Dancing her way to Counselor Eberhard , Ishta dances with him, smiling, trying to drive him towards one of the seats and pretending to stumble and making him seat by accident. If and when she recognizes the good old man awakening, she quickly helps him up again. "Oh, my! Sorry, good sir!" She winks, quickly making a gesture indicating him to follow up. "Clearly time has taken a toll on you, but even then you keep some good moves. Let's keep dancing for our loved master!"
Azarra had spotted her parents outside and had danced over to them, leaving things to the others. Cardona Junior noticed Ishta's approach and frowned despite her dancing. Talia tried to smooth things over saying, "In proclamation #5 you told us to multiply sire, and in #128 in your wisdom you permitted some of us to dance. Sire if all of us were to dance in the square and barrels of wine and ale were broached then many would be conceived sire."
Cardona seemed to consider this and suddenly he nodded as if somebody had whispered instructions into his ear, "Yes. I see now that would indeed be in line with proclamation 5, it would contravene proclamations 8, 14 and 55 but we will suspend those for the remainder of the day. Go now, dance, make merry, make children. In time they will be soldiers, in time the moonsea will be ours and from there the world."
Von Urslingen seemed confused when Ishta spoke to him, but with Cardona's words ringing in his ears he let ler lead him outside. Following their lead every except for Cardona danced outside.
Ser Armithia thinks that the time for the Chair's destruction is at hand!
As soon as the last remaining hostage dances their way out of the chamber, he clicks his Boots of Speed
It was blessed by Helm.
Or...