Makoto develops her plan and picks a face. She first tries to get information about are where the garderrobe is. Some servants point to an area where a line of people are already standing. A helpful old man takes you inside the keep though to an area for the servants of the home. He shows you a small room where there is a chamber pot and a wash basin. There you listen for a bit, until the man moves away a bit, and make your change. You hear him outside a bit away though, and it seems as though he doesn't wish to leave you unattended. You tell him you are ill and to find another in your party to come assist.
The old man pauses mumbles a bit and tells you to hold on. Once he moves away you change and slip from the room, looking about. Your livery stands out among the other servants of the house, but most of them seem intent on their tasks at hand. You move toward a side hall as it to leave, and then slip up a servant's staircase. You find your way to a narrow hall, dim and many doors that must lead to servants' quarters. Though none of the servants in the area you came from detected evil, you maintain the spell in case. You see about ten or so doors down this hall that must be small chambers. You enter a few and go through the meager clothing, realizing that most servants probably only have one or two pairs of clothes. You work with what you have and manage to compile something believable. You are on the second floor of a servants area. You move about and find a small alcove at the end of the hall with a tiny window. The window overlooks a small internal courtyard that may access other parts of the keep.
Teniel moves about and tries to engage with the other servants as they relax briefly. Many of them eager to partake in the savory treats, are shoveling food into the mouths as fast as possible. many are shoving extra in their pockets or flasks. He chats up a few people here and there bringing a few guffaws and chuckles at his jokes. The grin quizzically at his accent, and aren't sure if its affected on purpose or natural. Soon half a dozen of them are gathered around the 'funny little gnome'.
Behind his helmet, Tavros blinks. Why were these women acting so odd? And why did they seem to like his armor so much? Since he was kind of in a hurry, he briefly considered giving it to them, but he thought Lord Gondola wouldn't appreciate that. Plus he might look a bit odd wearing just the helmet and "boots" of his armor and get scolded for being out of uniform, meaning he'd be slowed down even more.
Remembering the "don't talk unless spoken to rule," he's glad when the women finally seem to ask him something. Shrugging slowly he responds, "I'm very sorry ladies, but I don't understand what you're asking of me."
Uncertain if it would be considered rude to try to leave, Tavros looks around for people he knows for guidance. Maybe now that they know I don't understand them, they will quickly lose interest.
Lucina, you manage to work at the access to the underground area. You work at the stone slab a bit and then the grate. Both are heavy, but your small form wriggles and tries to get in.
With some effort and quite a bit of ripping, tearing and smudging of your livery, you get down into the area where the pipes lead to and from the fountain. There is very little room down here, and you are crawling prone with hardly enough space to move. You even struggle to get on hands and knees, and have to sort of crab crawl about. As your darkvision adjusts, you decide to follow the intake pipe, as it must lead to a well. The other option would be to follow the outflow, which is quite possible dumps back into a reservoir to cycle the water back into the fountain. A fresh supply is required though to prevent it emptying from evaporation, so you press in that direction, trusting your engineering knowledge to guide you. You crawl through some very tight spaces, further ruining your clothes. You wryly thank your heritage for the tough as leather skin you have, and although your clothes suffer greatly, you only take a few minor abrasions. Several times you encounter bricked in areas, and even a grate or two designed to keep the passage of vermin to a minimum. You are forced to lie on your back and kick until your break the masonry enough to move the grate or shatter a hole to move forward. You've been down here so long you know that the party is in full swing again, but there is no going back now, and as unpleasant as it is down here, with cobwebs, dead insects, damp earth and mud, and creepy crawling things of all sorts, you are away from people.
A disturbingly large centipede crawls up your now bare leg, and you slam your hand over it crushing it before it decides to take a nip. Your hair is matted, tangled and filthy, but eventually you reach another wall of masonry, and the pipe enters the wall. You rap on it and get a solid thud back. You suspect the other side of the wall is a reservoir of water. If you kick it in, you would be able to access the reservoir, but it may be dangerous, water could come bursting out. You could swim in, but if you didn't find a pocket of air eventually, you could be in trouble. The water pushing out should afford some air to enter you hope. If it bubbled up to somewhere else, free, leaving the chamber to refill with water from another source, you would drown.
What will you do?
Her part in their endeavor complete, Champawat moved in closer to Tavros, as close as she could get. She was walking around a party in a world that she didn't know, with hundreds of strangers not likely to lift a finger to help her, while carrying stolen jewelry of the hostess's daughter. If anyone discovered what she had in her possession, she would probably be put to death in a matter of minutes. Unless of course they wanted to torture her first. Neither scenario seemed appealing.
With her hand in her pocket and her fingers wrapped around the necklace, a thought struck her. What if they were being setup? What if this man was less concerned about placing the counterfeit than he was with actually gaining possession of the real one. It was most assuredly valuable. It possibly had sentimental ties. Or maybe it was to be used in a magical spell some how, or just simple blackmail. Master would not approve of what they were doing, but what choice did they have? Everything they did was done to try and find Master. Surely the ends justified the means. What did they care about this world they never knew?
She continued to move closer to Taveos and started looking for the others. She was beginning to have very bad feelings about what was going on. She briefly even thought about planting the necklace on someone else, but quickly determined that that would probably just get them discovered quicker. She simply decided to stay near Tavros and her fauchard.
Having gathered a bit of a crowd—and with little else to do at the party, since he's not about to start drinking—Teniel decides to press his luck. When he identifies servants in the livery of Lady Vinsing, he tries to steer the conversation to include them, mentioning stories he's heard of the generous host's wondrous treasures, and bemoaning that, as a lowly gnome serving another household, he may never get to see such things. He also mentions, occasionally, a rumor he's heard—that the Lady of the House may have come by a secret crate of wish-granting magical luck dragon eggs, certainly a tall tale as he describes it, but seeking validation in the eyes of anyone who may have moved objects around the house.
[dice=Knowledge (geography) (to make his "foreign and mysterious" accent seem like an obvious but not-too-obvious affectation)]1d20+9[/dice]
When he can, however, he pulls aside one or two of the wealthier-looking servants, and mentions that he has not been completely honest. The "luck dragon eggs" story came from a passing sailor he met at the fishmarket, who died later that day of a mysterious and incurable fever. The sailor warned him that he had touched a crate of some sort of magical eggs with impure thoughts in his heart, and that the same curse might well befall anyone else who came into contact with the eggs while wishing for something petty. He figures this is all tall tales, but on a trip to the local wainwright (or some other appropriate place servants go to fetch things), he heard a rumor that Lady Vinsing might have acquired something fitting the magical eggs' description, and while he is sure the host of the house is a gracious and powerful magician, he now fears for the safety of any servant who might have handled such objects, should they exist—which they clearly don't, as an obvious sailor's tall-tale.
Lucina fears the risk but has come far enough she is willing to risk it...while being as careful as possible, she'd try to find the best place to make a hole and was ready with mending if the worst happened.
Tavros surrounded by the women, tries to talk to them, but they don't understand him, and seem to only grin more when they says something. After a short while they move away and seem to be going to talk to Lord Gongola. Champawat lurks nearby, aware of everything going on, worried that someone is watching or that they have been set up, potentially a very real possibility. Makoto has disappeared entirely, but could be one of a thousand faces in the crowd. Lucina has also disappeared.
Nearby a large crowd gathers around a small figure. Mostly servants of the nobles who came to visit, the servants taking a quick respite during the allotted time for the servants to take a break and eat some food before returning to their lords. Teniel regales the crowd with his story, hoping to catch as many of Lady Vinsing's staff as possible. Though few of them are near, or allowed to partake in the break for the visiting nobles' servants, he makes sure that enough of them hear as they bring the leftover food and drink to the area for the other valets and servants. As his story progresses, off to the side, few notice except the gathered crowd, which is probably quite normal given the situation. His tale progresses, under his gnomish guise and affected accent. He isn't sure if any of it seems genuine or not, but they seem to be buying his story, or at least don't mind his peculiar look and mannerisms. Probably not the strangest thing that many of the people have seen.
After his tale has been ongoing, some of the servants coming and going of Lady Vinsing's staff look a bit perplexed or nervous. Eventually some sort of lead servant appears and seems to be watching and listening from afar, perhaps thinking Teniel to be drunk. He may be a sort of head butler type. He moves closer and watches listening.
Teniel attempts to engage some of the staff individually, although most of them wave him off and attempt to proceed with their duties. The head butler seems to move closer and stands near Teniel, who now notices several security looking types moving closer. Not armed guards per se, but just people who are keeping an eye out for trouble.
He tries to engage some of the staff, but Lady Vinsing's house staff really don't pause for much other than polite replies. The staff of other nobles seem interested, but when Teniel tries to get information from them it is far less useful given the topic he is trying to learn about. Most of what they have to say is idle gossip and none of it useful. Yes she likes dragon themed things, that much was already known. No one knows anything about eggs or activity or even tangential information that could be linked.
He finishes his story, as the head butler looks on, a very concerned look on his face. Teniel isn't sure if the look is due to the content of the story, or that Teniel is spreading the story to begin with. His story complete, they are quite a few people who clap or chuff him on the shoulder for such an entertaining tale. Teniel watches from the corner of his eye, as the head butler moves back toward the main keep. The seed planted, he isn't sure what will happen, but unfortunately no one engaged him or seemed to take the bait enough to spill any information. It also occurs to him that perhaps the common house staff know nothing of the eggs. He did ruffle some feathers though.
Champawat, nearby sees this go down as she also tries to keep an eye on Tavros' plight. With a subtle nod from Teniel, she notes him pointing out the head butler fellow. Champawat catches the signal and but has to decide whether to follow him or keep Tavros out of trouble. Lord Gongule, Lishon and the rest of the staff has distanced themselves from your group, perhaps intentionally, either to let you do the investigating you came here to do, or because, as Champawat worries, to set them up for the theft of the necklace.
Lady Vinsing and her daughter seem to have taken their place on a podium watching the events as some musicians play for them. Shortly thereafter, the daughter excuses herself and with some other people move to a side garden. Security staff follow them, but it is not overt, merely normal routine. Meanwhile, Teniel's own small batch of security watchers continue to monitor him. It doesn't seem as though his performance was noted by anyone of import. Many of the servants continue to eat and drink, but some are starting to make their way back to their nobles, creating another chaotic mass of people moving back and forth, a pickpocket's delight, part II.
Lucina, in her crawlspace several feet beneath the ground in the tunnel for the plumbing of the courtyard, examines the masonry of the wall that makes up a large underground reservoir or some sort of cistern. Either attached to a well, or simply a large holding tank, the water filled chamber seems to be her next step to gaining access to ..somewhere. With as careful examination as she can, she kicks out hard several times, loosening the mortar with her powerful blows. Eventually there is some crumbling and cracking after a dozen more blows. Her heels and feet are going to be bruised, but she came this far, why stop now. The weakened wall, gives way with one final kick, the bricks initially buckling in, but soon spilling back out as the water in the chamber gushes forth. Lucina takes a deep breath as the water flows passed her swiftly. She wedges herself in tightly so that it doesn't carry her back down the crawlspace. At some point somewhere there is going to be a mess soon. Reaching with all her strength she pulls herself forward, grabbing the edges of the broken wall, and creeping into the underwater reservoir as it flows passed. It is hard work.
She had never been a proficient swimmer, but was capable or lucky enough here to use leverage of the wall, pipe and crawlspace to more or less push herself in against the flow and then rapidly up to the top of the chamber where she hope to find air. Luckily or rather as predicted due to her skill in understanding of such things, and the flow of water from the chamber already, there is a large gap of air at the top of the reservoir. Shaking water from her eyes and focusing in the dark she keeps near the wall and pulls her way along as the reservoir continues to empty beneath her, she kicks along and is able to see the chamber is somewhat large, about twenty feet in size. Above are several large pipes that may drain rainwater into the reservoir. They are too small even for her slight frame. On the far side is a small opening however, about three feet square, near the top, she moves quickly before the lowering water level drops enough to put it out of her reach. The distance is short but the water movement makes it tricky to get there. She makes it and throw her hands on the lip of the small tunnel, pulling herself up before she is forced to climb wet slippery flagstone.
Lying exhausted and soaked in the small tunnel, another access tunnel of sorts perhaps for the routine cleaning of the cistern, she takes stock. She isn't sure if she is above ground or not. Probably not quite as she does the math of her travels.
Crawling and half walking hunched over she moves cautiously ahead. The tunnel is wet but does angle upward. After a minute it reaches a peak as well as an iron grate. Beyond the grate it seems to angle back down again.
The grate seemed to be locked. It is solid construction, but again, perhaps she could simply break through it given enough time. She rubbed her battered feet and fists, not relishing the thought.
Champawat gives a curt nod to Teniel and begins maneuver around to pick up a drink. A minute later, she feigns dropping the drink and spilling the contents. Embarrassed, she kneels down to pick up the cup and tries to slip her extract into the cup. She waits another minute or two as she slowly moves about the party before drinking the extract of comprehend languages. As she begins to understand the conversations around her, she moves closer to the head butler and begins to shadow him.
Champawat pulls off her trick of dropping her drink and then slipping the extract in its place. Scarcely anyone notices the dropped drink, and no one seems to be watching, none the less she is cautious to be stealthy and subtle and does the replacement sometime after the drop.
The flood of conversations comes in all at once, and she moves toward the butler, staying back a bit.
He moves to the house and talks to another security looking person.
- fail
She moves in very close, trying to appear subtle. The butler is whispering to the other man, who is nodding. Over the din of the crowd and music, Champawat strains to hear what they are saying.
She gets close but is unable to hear the exact words, catching only something about the a gnome and Lord Gongula, before the one man leaves towards another group of people, and the butler turns to watch the crowd briefly before walking off to direct some servants as the servant break ends.
Teniel squints—but it looks like Champawat is the only one on hand to follow the butler. Hopefully she can stay out of sight following him, he thinks, noticing that the security staff around him would make disappearing difficult.
Instead, he makes some apologies to his new friends, mumbling something about running out of stories for the next hour, and wanders over to where Tavros stands, just in case things get a bit rougher.
Walking up to the tall, armored warrior, he taps him on the foot playfully, and calls out to the assembled admirers. "Ah!" he begins, in the slightly-ludicrous, "fake foreign accent" he's been working on, "I see you've all met my friend, Ki Brennagon the Bull-Hearted. Strongest man I've ever met, but he doesn't spend all day fetching things at market like some of us smaller folk. If I told you where he's from, you wouldn't believe me, but let's just say he once saved one of Lord Gongula's shipments by singlehandedly knocking twelve pirates overboard with a broken mast."
And then he frowns. "He doesn't learn too fast, unfortunately, and he only speaks a single, very old tongue." And he gestures for Tavros to lift him up, then whispers into the helmet, in Old Draconic, ("Head butler knows something about eggs. Champawat is tailing him. Others have disappeared")
Tavros relaxes when the women finally move away. Guess they got bored. He blinks at the tapping on his foot, too absorbed with the women to have noticed his brother slip up to him. Suppressing a grin, he easily lifts the small Wayang on to his shoulder, inclining his head in acknowledgement of his words.
Not entirely sure why Teniel is speaking in Draconic, he nonetheless softly replies back in the same tongue.. "អ្នកហាក់ដូចជាបានគូរពិតជាហ្វូងមនុស្សមួយ។ តើយើងទៅបិទនៅជុំវិញនៅទីនេះឬដូច្នោះវង្វេងបិទ?" ("You seem to have drawn quite a crowd. Are we to stick around here or likewise wander off?")
, Teniel replies, ("Here for now. Too much attention.")
Makoto leaves a few beautifully painted stones in each of the the places she takes clothing from, a way to hopefully ease the burden of losing their clothing... as well as perhaps easing some of the burden of the lives they lead. Ideally, she leaves more than she takes so that they can have a net gain... and perhaps be able to keep their favorites from amongst their new little treasures. Most of the stones she makes contain scenes of beautiful locales where she has been... or exotic animals that she has seen.
Tavros nods in understanding. We may as well enjoy some of the food then. With Teniel still on his shoulder, he strides towards where the servants' refreshments are and starts sampling, offering some to his Wayang parrot. As he does so, he continues to look around for other gnomes in case the icy one chose to show up as well.
While Tavros and Teniel move towards the food table, Lord Gongula with Lishon and a group of his other escorts distance themselves a bit from you to give you time to do your own mission.
Tavros moves to eat some food, but his giant helmet encompasses his head, and the full helmet basicallt prevents him from eating anything without removing it or revealing his face. His stomach rumbles hungrily.
Alree An returns to the group after being gone for a bit. She whispers "I haven't been able to find anything. I don't think really any of their staff knows anything, and none of the other nobles seem to have any clue either. Neither surprises me. This sort of thing will require some lurking around. I got as far as I could invisibly, but some areas were locked and some warded, and I did not have much time given that I also tried to engage some of the staff to no avail. What happened to the others?"
Champawat follows the head butler and tries to determine where he is going and what he is doing. He moves to an area and watches the crowd some more. Occasionally he moves to instruct some of the staff regarding the party, but he also seems to be keeping a keen eye on Teniel from afar. After a bit he has spoke to so many other staff, who come and go, that Champawat loses track, and is clearly not able to follow up on where they go and who they talk to. After a bit the butler heads inside to the servants' entrance which must lead to the kitchen and wine cellar areas. Following him into the manor at this point would certainly raise some eyebrows or even alarm.
"I've raised a bit of trouble," Teniel whispers back to Alree, "And I think someone does know. I told a story about a dying sailor I met at the docks, who said he had handled a crate of cursed dragon eggs, and that he was worried for whoever else in this city might have touched the eggs. And none of the servants responded, but one of the butlers got sort of worried and ran away. Champawat was tailing him, but I think lost track."
"I'm not sure if this means we're in trouble, or not," Teniel muses, "But I sure wish we could tell where that guy was going."
Champawat moves about to look for an alcove or somewhere secluded. Once she has a moment of privacy, she uses the hat of disguise to alter her appearance to that of one of a human servant. Once the change is complete, she makes her way to the servant's entrance, careful to avoid contact with any of the party goers.
Maks recognizes how hopelessly large the building as a whole is... but moves throughout it anyway. She does her best to make her way through the building towards that inner courtyard, though she's not quite willing to climb through the window, unless the coast is entirely clear... and she's on the first floor.
Her ultimate goal as she moves is to move further and further into the building. If she were hiding valuables, she wouldn't keep them on the outskirts of her property... probably.
Alree An frowns slightly at Teniel. "I hope it doesn't get us in hot water. Unwanted attention runs counterproductive to our goals, although I can see you were trying to fish for information. Hopefully it plays out well enough."
Champawat slips waits for a bit and then moves along a hedgerow into a side garden area to use her hat. While there she hears some odd noises, laughter, and other sounds that indicate something 'adult' is going on in the garden nearby. Fighting the urge to spy, curiosity gets the best of her (she is a cat!) and peeps through a bit of heavy foliage. She spies Lady Vinsing's daughter with a group of her friends, engaged in a goodly amount of debauchery. Perhaps now she understands Lord Gongula's desire to plant the magical necklace. Somewhat repulsed by the activities occuring, and hoping not to get caught, she retreats from her spying but notes for the future what she discovered, trying to recall details, but at the same time not remember details.
Focusing on her disguise she makes the change and then slips back towards the manor, filing in with the many servants and making a break for a different path when able. Once within the crowded hall to the kitchens and galleries, she breaks off from a group of servants carrying serving ware, and heads down a low wide staircase, that ends in several large thick doors. One door is already open slightly ajar.
She slips inside only to hear voices within and quickly steps behind the door itself into the shadows, freezing in place.
There are three servants are carrying several smaller casks of ale or wine. They lift their cargo and out the door and back up the stairs without realizing Champawat has entered the chamber.
The wine cellar is long and low, and several very large wine tuns are in the room, rows of bottles of various shapes, colors and ages based on the labels in the shelves which you are able to comprehend. Casks and barrels of all sizes are sitting about. You creep slowly to the end of the wine cellar where another door accesses a different area.
Testing the handle it is locked.
Working at the lock with her tools for a little bit she is able to gain access to the inner workings and unlock the door. Opening it carefully she enters another room, cooler, a bit moist, and it smells like cheese. Her eyes adjust and on shelves all over are dozens of types of cheeses, waxed wheels, and smaller containers. Thinking herself to be at a dead end, since no secrets are likely to be held in a cheese cave, she gives the room one last look, but spots yet another door at the rear of the cave. This one unlocked she moves into it, and it seems to be a fermenting chamber. Crocks and earthenware seem to have saurkraut and various other vegetables fermenting in them. Many bottles of pickled substances line the shelves. Becoming less interested, she finds yet another door, this one seems to lead some another underground hallway and an alternate access for the servants, the door is locked but from the inside a simple bar is the method, controlled by a lever in the locked. Easily undone from within without resorting to tools she moves back into the halls. Another door leads to extra storage. A second door the same but at the back of this room is a curious door, round and made entirely of iron, reinforced.
Investigating, she moves to it, and examines it. It is locked and the quality is quite good.
She finds no trap, but the lock is quite superior, and she suspects beyond her ability to open. (DC40)
--
Makoto moves along and decides not to climb out through the window into the courtyard below. She finds a very narrow staircase down to the lower level again and accessing the inner courtyard in a utility area with buckets and other tools for maintaining the small gardens in the open courtyard. A nearby well is used for bringing up water from below, and she spies a small drain grate that would take excess rainwater to below. The grate is too small to fit into. She moves on but notices people moving about. Servants come through the courtyard carrying some linens and a few of them some small pieces of furniture on some task. Makoto quickly moves to a different entrance and down a hall. Moving quietly and quickly, she passes several other servants, who give her a passing look. She moves to a window and tries to determine where she might go next. Where would one keep turtle eggs or information about them? She surmises the eggs themselves would be kept warm and protected if they were to be kept alive, or perhaps any state if they were to be eaten, though she isn't sure if they would still be edible this many days later. If they were to be used for some other nefarious purpose, then its anyone's guess. If there were records, those would likely be kept in a private office somewhere deep within, likely in the quarters of Lady Vinsing or a high ranking assistant. With no clear direction, she does see the 'nicer' part of the manor, from the window, and tries to make here way there, worrying about possible guards and other precautions that may be in place.
Lucina takes her time recovering from the water log using Prestidigitation to dry herself before moving on and really regretting this trip. Despite the dread of brute forcing her way through an obstacle she didn't have many options so she tried to make it as easy on herself as she could by locating weak points and weakening them with ray of Frost before attacking it directly.
Behind his helmet, Tavros makes a sad face. Made all the sadder by the fact that he didn't bring a bag to put food it. Unconsciously attempting to live vicariously through his brother, he keeps attempting to push food upon him. Similarly, when Alree An comes to join them, he keeps offering her various pieces of food.
"There are many paths to Father. The more that are explored, the more likely we are to find him. Besides, any who know my brother would know that he likes to spin tales. Although admittedly, most of those here do not know that."
"I can slip away if there's trouble," Teniel replies, "I'm small, and this isn't my real face. Hopefully it won't raise trouble for anyone else, though."
Champawat makes her way back up and reverts back to her previous attire to report what she has learned to Teniel. "At the end of the vine cellar is a locked door. Beyond the locked door is a room full of cheese, and beyond that is a fermenting room for aging cheese. Past that I found a storage room, and eventually a circular door, bound in iron, with the best lock I've ever seen. I would need the key to search further. In my reconnaissance, I also witnessed the daughter of our host engaged in rather, erotic behavior with several people."
Makoto would have grabbed some of the tools as she was passing, to better blend in... and would continue to do so as she moves throughout the castle. If she runs into anyone who stops her, she'll tap her ears and mouth, while shaking her head... motioning with whatever tool she currently has. 'I can't understand you, and I can't speak your language' easily being mistaken for 'I'm deaf and dumb.'
Warm was more difficult, given how many forms of magic there were in the world that could keep things warm without any external signs... which meant that a sturdy lockbox might have some of the eggs, with the right magic. Said eggs would need to be kept warm but not hot, though being cooled would be fine during the night, so a cycle made sense. Still, she figured that they would be kept close at hand... and more specifically, within any sort of guest quarters that the lady might have. Especially guest quarters reserved for VIPs.
Lucina examines the bars carefully and the mortar around them. Knowing that elemental damage directly to objects does very little, and her small ray of frost is weak already, she decides to use the cold to create a different type of damage. With her knowledge of engineering, she knows that structures can often suffer from frost damage due to heaving and the freezing and thawing of water. With prestidigitation she makes a small cup and gathers water and soaks the masonry and mortar next to where the bars are cemented in. Once the water has seeped into the cracks shes applies her ray of frost, creating a tiny stress on the mortar. She repeats the process again, and again, testing with several well placed blows. Boring and tiring, the process does seem to be working, every so slowly. Attempting to do the work of many a freezing night and thawing day over multiple winters in several minutes. Eventually her will wins out and the bars start to give way in one part and she shakes and pulls and pushes on them until the mortar crumbles more. Finally the bars come out of their moorings and she is able to wriggle past.
She makes her way further down the small tunnel and eventually it opens into a larger hall, as a small square trapdoor swings open into the larger room. Several other tunnels lead from the area, one seemingly larger than the rest. Cool air seems to flow in from smaller ventilation shafts, too small for someone her size. She listens for a moment and then takes the larger tunnel for a short distance and it stops at a large set of double doors. The doors are stout wood but reinforced and seemingly quite thick. Solid oak panels, perhaps doubled or tripled up and massive metal bands with large nails hammered in every inch, ensures that this door is not opening any time soon without a major siege engine or similar capacity for damage. Though she sees no locks, she doesn't mess with the door as there may be traps for something this secure. It may be barred from the other side.
As Alree An started to grow concerned, "Teniel perhaps you should go find the others, the servants' break is about to end, and the party will be in full swing again, and might be more challenging to move about. I spoke to Lishon and he said about two to three more hours before guests will leave. A few will remain behind, persons of importance. Lord Gongula is not counted among them."
Just them Champawat returns and reveals the results of her investigations.
--
Makoto in the mean time walks about with a small bucket and garden trowel. She tries to weave and wind her way through the halls of the manor to make her way to the upper chambers for the Lady and her guests.
She manages to find her way to a wide hallway and walking along she is forced to interact with several house staff. While her disguise seems to be working fine, her presence alone seems to be of some concern for the staff, and they seem to be asking her what exactly she is doing.
Luckily, her ruse about being deaf and dumb seems to work, and the staff grow exasperated and ignore her as harmless, there is some mumbling about her uselessness before they move on to complete their own urgent tasks.
Makoto makes her way to a set of stairs leading up into the more elegant areas of the manor. Cresting a wide set of stairs she encounters a quartet of house guards, armored and armed, standing casually but cautiously at guard. "Eyyy." One of them raises an eyebrow inquisitively as she comes up the stairs. The landing is perhaps ten by fifteen feet and they are positioned at a set of doors that must lead deeper in or further on up.
Teniel muses. "A heavily-locked door does seem suspicious. Any evidence that that was where the butler headed? We could try gathering everyone with lockpicks, see if you can work together to get through the door... though it might be hard to get back. Or—Alree, you could teleport someone through, while a few of us watch the hallways leading there? I believe Makoto could grant everyone a few minutes of invisibility, if we can find her, although I don't know what the range is on your jumping, so maybe you could warp straight into the locked room."
Maks looks around for a moment, once she sees them, before holding up the tiny shovel, and then bouncing the bucket by the handle... then repeats the tapping of her ear and mouth. Hopefully they took that as 'I'm lost'.
"I am game to attempt whatever you feel is our best course of action. It will not be easy, getting all of us to the door, even opening the door, but we don't know what's on the other side. There could be guards, beasts, traps, or simply valuables that are not what we are seeking. We will be surrounded by a small army judging by the size of this place, and guilty of any number of crimes. Are you sure this is our next step?"
"No. Teleportation would be easier; so would reading the Butler's mind," Teniel shrugs. "But I'm brainstorming here. Creativity in the face of constraints is the hallmark of any genius Dalang."
"If you describe the place to me in detail, I may be able to teleport us there in the future, when we are more prepared." mutters Alree An, very quietly, her hand over her mouth you suspect to prevent any lip readers.
"Right..." Teniel mutters, remembering to cover his mouth too. "Maybe at night time, when there are fewer guards, and I've figured out that silence spell..."
The guards motion to Makoto in an exasperated manner to get back to where she came from, waving with their hands the way she came.
Since his mouth is covered anyway, Tavros doesn't bother to cover his. He supposed it was one advantage to the helmet, but this did little to console his grumbling tummy. "I did not see where our other sisters went. I can look around for them, but likely they are nowhere that I could go without drawing attention."
Makoto nods and hurries away.
"Right, then."
Teniel explains to Makoto the dilemma—a locked door, suspicious but not incriminating.
"Alree, I don't suppose you know any Clairvoyance spells? It would be quite helpful to see inside that room, before we try anything? ...Otherwise, we've got two options: get up to mischief, or come back later with teleportation."
"I'm sorry, that falls more into the realm of the arcane, than the divine. There must be other magics we can use to achieve our goals."
Lucina tries to keep a mental map of the area in case they need to return but the further she goes the more she feels like she might be making a large mistake. Seeing the door was far beyond her ability to break down she would cast Detect magic to ensure nothing horrid was going to happen as she looked for an alternate way out.
Lucina focuses her will and begins detecting for magical auras. While none seem to be coming from the door itself. She is able to detect magic from the other side of the door. She knows that it takes quite a bit of wood to block such detection. Concentrating, she can detect one strong aura and half a dozen moderate auras. Having no line of sight to the sources she cannot identify the schools of magic, but she is sufficiently convinced that something significant is beyond those doors.
She knows that the time is now well past the servants' break. She heads back down the main hall, returning to the tunnels and takes a side tunnel. It winds through a small maze of other halls. Making her way through the darkness, she comes to a stairwell and leading up it eventually ends in a solid oak door. Air and light and sounds from outside are evident. She notes the door is secured and locked, but a latch on this side will open it. Listening to make sure no one is without, she opens it slightly and peers out. No one in sight, she looks for a route. The door opens into a very small private courtyard. She looks at her own disheveled outfit, torn and grimy. It would not be good to be seen by anyone. Moving swiftly, skilled at remaining unseen, she flits from shadow to shadow. Several times she has to step behind a tall plant, into a shadow or drop behind some furniture as she makes her way through the tiny courtyard and then immediately into several rooms of the manor. They appear to be workrooms and chambers for the servants to handle supplies.
She hides pondering her disguise and how to reach or contact the others.
Lishon moves over to the group and advises, "The servants' break is ending, it is time to return to your regular act. Lord Gongula has achieved his goals for the evening and we will be departing soon. You have a missing member. Do you know where she is?"
"No, unfortunately." Teniel shrugs. "And I don't think I could create a convincing duplicate."
"We each took breaks in our own ways." Makoto responds, quietly. "They have a lovely interior garden, as well as many, many guards and servants." she clearly seems nervous about the situation, even if she's generally good at hiding such emotions.
Frowning under his mask, Tavros stands up to his full height to attempt to determine if his missing sister is anywhere to be seen. "I have not seen her recently." I hope she isn't in too much trouble.
After waiting for a while, the party seems to be winding down for some guests. While it is apparent and likely that some VIPs will continue on into the night, each attendees knows their favor and station, and is likely to leave when appropriate. Lishon advises the group, "We will leave soon. Make your final preparations. After we exit, Lord Gongula will no longer provide aid or be assiociated with your group. He thanks you for your services. Hopefully you have been able to achieve your own goals as well."
After about another fifteen minutes, Lord Gongula begins his round of farewells to some of the other nobles, and he and his main entourage make for the stables, where some of their retinue has been preparing their coaches.
You follow along, your role as stand around and look appropriate valets and servants, nearly complete. Soon this farce will be over, and you can take the information you learned and prepare your next action. Except, Lucina is missing....
If Lucina thought she could repair her clothing with spells fast enough to catch the others she'd attempt to do so in a safe place but if she didn't have the time or safety she'd try searching the servants supplies for an extra uniform so she could move about safely in search of her friends.
Tavros begins to be more concerned as things start to head towards their departure. He at the very least would likely have to leave since he doubted few would fail to notice his large form lurking about even after Lord Gorgon had left. "What should we do? Lucina still isn't back yet. Do you think she ran in to trouble?"
Lucina waits a bit, the hustle and bustle of the staff as they clear away parts of the food and serving ware creates enough distraction that she is able to move through the current location to a spot of seclusion where she applies mending to her clothing. Spotting a bucket of water she tries to clean the grime and muck from her face, and adjust her disguise and makeup. Without a mirror it proves to be a challenge, but she manages. She just needs to get back to her group.
She completes her final adjustments to disguise and melts back into the swarm of staff coming and going as many guests appear to be leaving. She falls in line with the rest of Lord Gongula's group and her companions, a sign of relief in their eyes. Lishon nods solemnly as the entourage moves towards the carriages. Everyone boarded and soon the group is clear of the estate. You sit in the carriages as you ride back to the inn where you met.