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"Oh, good. We can finally begin looking for evidence! I hope I can be more useful with this task than with sneaking."
Imrana begins searching the room. Her focus is so intense on each object that she stops to look at, that she appears to not even notice anything else.
She jumps when she sees the painting of the nymph.
"By the Lady!"
She quickly turns herself away, but her cheeks suddenly much more red. She looks to her companions.
"Um...is this normal for Chelaxians?"
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This room seems to be in pristine condition, with little evidence of renovations. The chamber is full of a variety of equipment suggestive of a dungeon or torture chamber. The walls appear to be thickly padded and sustain hooks holding a number of whips, bludgeons, and other instruments of pain. Spaced between large mirrors are several extremely obscene paintings.
Among the paintings on the wall is a rather blasphemous portrait of Sarenrae in a compromising position with two succubi.
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"A torture chamber right next to her bed chambers?!"
Her eye catches the painting before she quickly turns away, her face another shade redder.
"And psychological torture as well against the servants of the Dawnflower?"
Imrana frowns and shakes her head.
"This Zarta is truly a gruesome woman. I am not sure it is so good for us to find her."
Despite her musing, Imrana searches for something that could be a key, though perhaps not with the energy and focus she did before.
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These are Bearded Devils (Barbazu).
DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 16
Infernal Wound (Su) The damage a bearded devil deals with its glaive inflicts persistent wounds that cause 2 points of bleed damage. Bleed caused from an infernal wound is particularly difficult to stanch—a DC 17 Heal check stops the damage, and any attempt to heal a creature suffering from an infernal wound must succeed on a DC 16 caster level check or the spell does not function. Success indicates the healing works normally and stops all bleed effects on the victim. The infernal wounds caused by a bearded devil are a supernatural ability of the devil, not of the weapon.
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Rendala will tell a joke to begin her Bardic Performance.
Party steps out of a barn, and is faced with a war party of gnolls.
Mage: *Mumbles arcane words* A ball of fire leaps from his palm, the gnolls go up in flame and smoke.
Bard: "Wow that was nice, can you teach me that sometime?"
Mage: "What?"
Bard: "That spell you just cast."
Mage: "I did not cast a spell, at least I do not remember doing such a thing."
Bard: "Yeah, you just blew all those gnolls into ashes."
Mage: "I did that, oh my, I need anger management classes."
Bard: "Soooo.... can you teach me that spell?"
Mage: "What spell."
Bard: *Sigh*
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This is round 1.
Rendala begins combat by inspiring courage in her allies.
The red imp attacks.
The red imp enters Numair's square and whips its stinger at him: , . It does 2 HP of damage and fills his veins with hellish poison: . Thankfully, the sorcerer calls upon the power of his bloodline, and he resist the poison.
____________________________________________________________
Sorted Inits:
Rendala
Devil (Red)
Jair
Imrana
Numair
Devil (Blue)
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Jair, it's your turn!
Imrana, you're on deck.
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Numair's swing is surprisingly strong. It connects! But somehow, the imp seems less hurt by the solid blow than it should be.
____________________________________________________________
Sorted Inits:
Rendala
Devil (Red)
Jair
Imrana
Numair
Devil (Blue) -- 4 HP of damage
____________________________________________________________
Imrana is up! Then the Blue Imp will act.
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____________________________________________________________
Imrana draws her wand of Magic Missile and aims it at the imp Numair struck.
Magic Missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
SMACK! The imp takes the full force of the magic missile right in his stinger!
____________________________________________________________Sorted Inits:
Rendala
Imp -- 9 HP damage
Jair
Imrana
Numair
____________________________________________________________
Rendala is up! This is now round 2.
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Numair drops it.
____________________________________________________________
You've found a secret room!
In contrast to the large and lavish rooms that make up the rest of this side of the embassy, this secret study is cramped, utilitarian, and sparse. Almost all of the room is taken up by a long desk topped by a series of cubbies full of papers and curios. The desk itself is clear except for a piece of paper and a small, framed portrait of Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin with a lipstick kiss-mark on it. The walls of the room are irregular and look as if the room was shoehorned into wasted space between other rooms. Like the rest of the personal chambers, this room is windowless, and is pierced only by the secret door and an air vent in the southern corner.
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The paper left out on Zarta’s desk.
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The back of Valsin’s portrait contains a note from Zarta.
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Examining the cubbies in Zarta's study reveals a felt bag with three carved tower figurines in the Thassilonian style. There is also a list labeled "SL Operatives" among the myriad papers spilling out of the cubbies.
____________________________________________________________
Tucked behind the vent in this room is a valise containing 50 gp, a pouch of dust of disappearance, a cloak of elvenkind, and official-looking documents establishing several different false identities for Zarta Dralneen.
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Numair sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose after reading the notes.
"Lovely. Riddles and puzzles. Why that woman can't leave a straight message, I just don't understand..."
He is, however, quite happy to appropriate the valise, and its contents, clipping the cloak around his neck.
"Not really my colour, but at least it will make it slightly easier for me to manoeuvre around unnoticed..."
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Imrana leans in to look at the notes, her face brightening as she notices the jumbled words and letters.
"Oh! A cipher. I am very fond of ciphers, you know."
She turns away and closes her eyes. Her hands conduct invisible letters and numbers through the air.
"I do not need the notes. I have memorized them."
She speaks in her bright lilting accent with a completely matter-of-fact tone, completely innocent of the difficulty such a task might pose for most.
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Searching further, you discover that the vent (behind which you found the valise) is actually big enough for you to crawl through, if you wish. In fact, this crammed vent leads to a series of old ventilation tunnels. The floor and some of the walls of the tunnels are plain stone or plaster, but in many places the walls and ceiling display pieces of crumbling mosaics, frescos, murals, and bas-relief sculptures.
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Numair eyes the vent thoughtfully.
"Hmmm... You know, on that note on the back of the portrait, the word 'Vent' was inappropriately capitalised... as are the words 'Lion', 'Scales', 'King', and 'Centaur'. Perhaps we should keep an eye out for them?"
He then gingerly moves forward into the ventilation system.