Edric is able to disarm the trap and you are able to open the door.
With what appears to be a set of stairs blocking the ay forward Tal looks to the group to determine if they want to head down or to clear out the rest of the floor before heading anywhere else. I would just as soon clear out this floor butt he argument can be made to just head to the source of this trouble and get it over with. Just where we might find the devil or or any of the others though is beyond me. First one to point the direction I will take it as I don’t like being out in the open like this.
Richard nods and follows along to E3. There may be more people lost inside, and he doesn't want to lose anyone out here.
A pair of man-sized statues in the corners of this room have been covered by sheets.
Tal looks to Richard and Edric to search the statues before he removes the covers to see what was so offensive that it needed covering. Perhaps it is of the mayor and these people can’t stand to look at him either.
After uncovering them if nothing g attacks Tal moves on to E4.
"The last time I decided to search something I was assaulted by an insectoid nightmare." Richard shakes his head.
Richard also scans for magical auras in the statues.
When Edric removes the sheets, you see each statue is of a tall, muscular man with red skin, cloven hooves, and black hair and horns, surrounded by a pale flame nimbus and bearing a contract.
They do not radiate as magical.
"Oh, this can't be good."
"Well, I hate to be proven right, but they are clearly modeled after Asmodeus. I don't understand why they are blindfolded though... and what is with the contracts they are holding." He sighs. "Might be a clue. No magic, though. Might just be a mundane contract."
Perhaps they are seen as symbols of the past or even some do t hold true to Asmodeus ways. Can’t say I blame them. Cover them back up and on we go.
Tal will do so and then head to E4 and open it.
Tal finds that the door is locked!
Richard casts Heroism upon Edric to help him out.
Tal does not have guidance prepared today. However he does flex his muscles and grabs a crowbar out of his pack. If you need me to I can try and rip it down?
Mera moves alongside of Edric to offer her assistance in picking the lock. She points out the type of pick she'd use and the specifics of turning it "Since you asked." she says, with a smile.
With Mera's aid, the lock opens and the door opens.
This well-appointed room seems to have been recently cleaned and organized. Cracks in the wall, and a particularly large crack on the side of the fireplace to the northeast, are the only testament to the ruins to which the rest of the house has been reduced. The rest of this bedroom seems quite well lived-in.
You see a surprised halfling sitting at a small table.
What the deuce?! He exclaims.
Tal looks at the halfling perplexed. Duece? There is more than 2 of us if you can’t count that high. Who are you and what are you doing here?
Richard eyes the halfling closely. "Aberton the Dealer, this area is quite dangerous, you know."
Richard tries to keep on the lookout for guards, but he's too focused on the halfling. Sherix, meanwhile, got the hint and is rapidly scanning the area.
"Are you actually using this place as a lair? With the fiery columns and devils roaming freely? Nothing can be worth that much risk, can it?"
Richard's first move is to figure out how much information can he squeeze out of this guy without getting on his bad side.
It is an expression you big oaf! He says as he thumbs through a deck of cards. Hey! How do you know my name? That's alright. I know yours! Mera, Tal AKA Raveen, Richard and Edric. The Council has taken quite an interest in you four. He eyes his punching dagger just within his reach.
"Hmm, I'm not as discreet as I'd like to be. Or you've been keeping close tabs. Or my ladies lips are looser than I though." Richard muses. "At any rate, Dealer. I suggest you calm yourself."
Sherix hops onto Richard's shoulders and glares. "Yeah! That punching dagger isn't going to do much to all of us."
Richard smiles as Sherix points out the major threat. "Now now, friend. Calm down." Richard casts Charm Monster on the Dealer. If it works, he has a long time ally. If not... well, it was going to get messy anyway.
Tal smiles as the halfling looks towards the dagger. Its alright there Richard. If he wants to try and go for it he can. It might be his last act though before he dies. At least he is willing to talk to us. Much better than that bony demon that we defeated earlier.
Turning to Aberton Tal continues smiling, So what can you tell us about this place? We heard that you were in charge here. Is that true? I thought all you halflings were slaves and such?
Tal still has his shield and sword out but is not pointing it at Aberton for the moment. Trying to let Richard it Mera have time to talk.
"Love, half the city knows my name. Are you a fan them, hmmm?" Mera says, nearly laughing at the prospect of knowing her name.
She moves closer to the card-wielder and says "I can autograph something for you, if you like? Perhaps one of your cards there?"
Now now, friend. Calm down
Yes, Yes, We are all friends here!
Its alright there Richard. If he wants to try and go for it he can. It might be his last act though before he dies. At least he is willing to talk to us. Much better than that bony demon that we defeated earlier.
Genuine concern crosses his face. Bony demon?! I hope you weren't vexed too greatly!
So what can you tell us about this place? We heard that you were in charge here. Is that true? I thought all you halflings were slaves and such?
Well I wouldn't say I'm in charge of the council, but I am one of the more powerful members of the Council of Thieves. He frowns. I guess I never really made it that far in the Council’s hierarchy due to my tendency to get fed up with following orders and my lack of skill in areas classically needed by a thief. For the last several years, I've served the Council primarily in identifying stolen magic items and providing divinatory advice. Recently, I've also been called upon to use lesser geas as a way to ensure loyalty of those who seek the Council’s aid, or to punish members whose loyalty may have “slipped.” I'm known among the thieves as “The Dealer,” both because of my skill at dealing cards and for my growing reputation as the guy who deals out punishment to thieves who need it, I am well aware of the fact that the rank-and-file thieves hate me. So when the Drovenge
siblings approached me to join in their insurrection, I readily agreed, seeing this as a chance to spit in the eye of the Council’s actual leadership and hoping that the siblings would secure for me a better spot in the coming changes to the pecking order. So far, though, I've been unimpressed with how I've been treated—stationed here on the ground floor in, as I see it, “marm-duty for the whelps.” The fact that the thieves have to pass through MY assigned quarters in order to get to their barracks, and thus effectively treat my room as a hallway, is not lost on me. With the recent death of the thief Lozendi, I have seen my responsibilities rise—as the only other surviving officer on site is locked downstairs and faces the problem of navigating the Spiral, I have increasingly become the primary point of contact between the Drovenges and the agents stationed here. Yet my attitude is festering, and I'm all but actively looking for a reason to betray the Council again. So you see, I am not a slave!He then thinks for a moment. Why did I just tell you all that?
"I can autograph something for you, if you like? Perhaps one of your cards there?"
He readily hands over one of his playing cards.
Richard relaxes a bit. He doesn't want to be a slave, yet he enslaves others with his horrible magic. Still, if we can avoid one fight I'll take it. We're best friends for a week, anyway.
"That is terrible! They can't treat you like that." He finds a place to sit. "My friends and I have been thinking- this is the perfect opportunity. Your superior officer is downstairs, eh? Well, if a group of four outsiders, like us, came in and subdued them, then well, you'd be the top dog, as it were. You could move in to the bigger quarters, and you could stomp through their room!" He laughs.
"No one would blame you, either, they'd come after us. We just need to get through here. Do you have a layout of this area?"
"Wait, what's with the Nessian Spiral? Do you know how to reach the cooling pools? And who is down there? Crosael?" Sherix pipes up.
I hate when Richard does this. Always forgets the details. Sherix sighs. The mayor's stupid contract specified the Spiral and how to shut it down. But maybe a map and easy passage down there would help.
Tal literally stands there slack jawed as the Dealer reveals everything and answered his questions without a fight. This never happens and Tal doesn’t know how to respond. So instead he just keeps standing as he waits to see if Sherix and Richards other questions are answered.
Mera obliges and moves forward to sign a card, All of my love, XOXO Mera Wist-Thrune.
After handing the card back, she asks. "You seem so intimidately familiar with the locations around here. I'd hate to get lost, do you think perhaps that you draw me a map? If you could include and mark up the locations or potential areas I should avoid because they could be dangerous to me or contain traps, that also would be fantastic."
Mera bats her eyes at The Dealer.
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I have not been down to the lower areas. That is Crosael's domain and I am just as glad to let her have it! I don't know if you have met her in person, but she is a vile, cruel woman. I avoid her as much as possible!
He takes the card from Mera and places it in his vest pocket-close to his heart.
•The Council of Thieves is alive and well—rumors that it long ago disbanded are false.
•There’s a schism building in the Council between the traditionalists and a new group that wants to have more direct control over the fortunes and citizens of Westcrown.
•The schism is led by the son and daughter of one of the Council’s oldest and most respected leaders, Vassindio Drovenge.
•Vassindio’s granddaughter, Chammady, is a beautiful but dangerous assassin and an accomplished swordfighter.
•Vassindio’s grandson, Ecarrdian, is the more dangerous sibling, a charasmatic and brilliant charmer who is also, much to the Drovenge shame, at the very least a tiefling—some whisper that he is actually a half-fiend, and others that he is actually the son of the archdevil Mammon.
•The Drovenges and their followers have entered the endgame—they’re making various power plays now throughout Westcrown to seize control of the Council and, soon thereafter, will attempt the same of Westcrown’s government.
•There exists a handful of powerful enemies whom the Drovenge siblings particularly want to see murdered—these include most of the loyalist leaders of the Council of Thieves, a semi-legendary swamp hag known as the Mother of Flies said to know the secret (and weakness) of Ecarrdian’s bloodline, and the PCs themselves.
•The Drovenge siblings hope to make peaceful contact with Liebdaga the Twin and, in exchange for freeing him, hope to recruit his aid in taking control of Westcrown. Even if the thieves currently attempting this are defeated, as long as Liebdaga remains alive or in Westcrown, the danger of such an alliance being forged remains.
•Before the Drovenges’ agents can contact Liebdaga, they are struggling to master the deadly dungeon that imprisons him in order to reach him. This is the Nessian Spiral below the ruins of Aberian’s Folly. Research and divinations have indicated that successful navigation of the Nessian Spiral would be made vastly easier for the one who manages to gather three important items—a copy of the contract used to imprison the pit fiend Liebdaga, a Stygian Keyrod used to manipulate and control the machinery that maintains the devil’s prison, and Liebdaga’s devil talisman. The thieves suspect that the only copy of the contract was either destroyed in the explosion or (more likely) is in the possession of the now-missing mayor of Westcrown—they have agents scouring the city but have not yet found him. Liebdaga’s talisman itself has, apparently, been recovered from the treasury below, and is in the possession of the diabolist Avahzi, the commander of the thieves attempting to navigate the Spiral. Only the Stygian Keyrod has so far eluded discovery, but divinations indicate that it should be hidden somewhere in the Nessian Spiral.
"Ahh, I see. Thank you for that, it's incredibly useful." Mera says, with a beaming smile as she closes in to give their new friend a long hug to sell it.
As she turns her back to him and walks back to her friends, she makes a disgusted look on her face and stick out her tongue to signal Yuck.
"All of this is... incredible! That... hag Crosael is going down, believe me!" He gives a thumbs up. "Why don't my friends and I take care of this for you? You sit tight for a while."
He stands up and lets Mera seal the deal.
Chammady Drovenge. We met her in the theater. She knew who Tal was, saw right through his alias. They know exactly who I am, too. Looks like I'm in this for the long haul.
"Where to next, friends? Looks like we'll need to enter the Spiral at some point, but when?"
As Mera leans in for a hug, the halfling will let his hands fall to her buttocks.
He smirks, The pleasure was all mine! he says with an adoring (or is that lustful) look in his eyes.
I can be of some help in the future. he offers.I am sure eventually you will strike a council safe house. I promise to lie low while things in the Nessian Spiral play out, then I'll plan to return to the Council with a story of my narrow escape from a formidable party such as yourselves, and some false information as to how the Council can prepare for you. When you make their move on a safe house or against the Drovenges, I promise I’ll try to provide what aid I can. He winks at Mera, What say you?
"This sounds like a good idea. Lay low, friend. You'll do well in the council!" Richard gives his friend a thumbs up.
The dealer nods appreciatively and quickly leaves.
Tal looks around at the others, That could have done worse. Let’s move on and get as much accomplished before whatever Richard did wears off and he comes back to try and kill us.
"We should have a week or so before that happens." Richard shrugs. "He knows who we are, anyway. No point in hiding that. A shame, I liked my anonymity."
Ignoring the unnecessary touching, Mera suppresses a grimace and instead offers a girlish giggle. She agrees with Richard, "This is a fantastic idea. Thank you for everything you've done for us, my friend." and places a quick peck on his cheek.
She quickly makes an escape from him before she can be groped again. After he departs, she spits on the ground and wipes her mouth. "Disgusting. The things I do for you people."
Sherix doesn't like this Dealer at all. Hopefully the Council sees right through his lies and punish him for letting us go. And he needs to keep his hands to himself.
Take good care of her, Edric. She deserves better. She thinks.
Mera leans into Edric's kiss, pressing her cheek into his lips with a smile as if the action tickled. She spins and presses her back to the cleric's chest to face Ricard and says "Yes. Well done Richard. That was an excellent use of that spell."
We should have killed him and spilled his blood! the glaive screams at her. She doesn't respond verbally, but only smiles and bats her eyelashes and whispers to herself
"In time."
Once a library, the majority of the books on the walls here have fallen from their shelves. Most of them seem to have been burnt in a dented cauldron sitting in the middle of the room. Half a dozen bedrolls lie on the floor here.
There are four thieves sleeping. One of them groggily asks, Oy! Is it time for our shift already? It seems like we just turned in!
"Yes, well, the boss said we need to serve double duty. Rookies like us get it rough." Richard coughs. "We're supposed to do... what you guys are doing. Sleep tight. Wait, what are we supposed to do? The boss wasn't clear on that."
The less noise we make, the sooner we can clean this mess up. This Council is a much larger threat than I had hoped.
Tal remains In place by the door as to not make much noise. Should the others want them to go back asleep he is good with that. As such He will slip his shield off his arm to make it easier to pass through if needed.