Ordrud trying to sneak is comical.
Marcus freezes when he hears a noise, then looks back over his shoulder when he realizes it's coming from behind him. When he sees Ordrud entering the room, he glares at the half-orc as if trying to send a telepathic message. "What part of "Wait" did you not understand?" he thinks to himself.
Marcus then whispers a few words as a glowing hand with it's palm facing Ordrud appears right in front of his face so that the half-orc walks right into it. The hand continues to smack into his face until he stops walking and making so much noise.
Marcus ears prick up hoping that nothing go's wrong, deep in the belly of Rhoona's guards... but the light activity and chatter from the kitchen seems to continue without pause.
Looking in the new room he sees two comfortable chairs, a desk with a simple wooden chair, and two bookshelves are the furnishings of this room. The desk is strewn with papers, and many books are on the shelves.
Vothe starts checking the desk, looking for anything that might resemble useful evidence.
Augar follows Vothe
He then begins to look at the books and about the room in general
Most of the papers are requisition forms for various supplies. Vothe looks quickly but closely at them and can see that 500 suits of leather armor, 500 shortswords, 150 crossbows, 3,000 quarrels, 200 shields, thousands of gallons of milk and cheese, and tons of meat and flour have all been ordered for the Ducal Guard. The bottom sheet on the pile is an order, signed by Draco Stormsailer, authorizing the drafting of 600 men-at-arms from the city's population.
The requisitions are dated a week ago. The draft order is dated today. The ink is dry but fresh enough to lead you to believe it has been written in the last few hours, possibly even this morning.
There is a stout door in the middle of the wall to the north.
Marcus grins at the pile of papers on the table hoping that it what they have been looking for. "Seems someone has been planning a war and for the last week. It's something, but it doesn't really tell us why or if the king is aware of it," he whispers as he helps look through the papers.
Not finding anything else, he moves to check the door.
Vothe pockets the copy of the order and the other documents related to raising an army and then says "We should get out of here. We have at least some evidence that there's going to be a coup."
Ordrud shifts his weight in boredom causing his chain mail to rattle a bit.
Marcus listens at the door a moment and then opens the door.
This unusual room has a lush layer of furs on the floor. White and black bearskins, dire wolf hides, and the skins of all of the great cats have been piled throughout the room. Along one wall, posed so as to almost appear real, is the skin and mounted head of a red dragon. Along the opposite wall are mounted the heads of wild boars, a giant, several dwarves, a displacer beast, owl bear, troll, unicorn, and woolly rhinocerous.
There is a door at the far end of the room.
Vothe gathers the paperwork and looks around for anything more. The bookshelves contain several volumes on boatbuilding, navigation and sailing, as well as a dusty history of Rhoona and a much handled tome entitled: "The Escapades of Draco Stormsailer-Scourge of the Seas!"
Marcus pauses before entering the room. "Do you think that's enough? All that says is he wants to start a war. The real good stuff is probably in his room. I fear if we leave now and they notice those papers missing, we won't be able to get back in at a later date," he whispers and waits for a consensus on whether to continue forward or leave.
"Seems reasonable to pull as much evidence as possible" Augar says.
Vothe thinks for a moment, then collects Draco's (assuredly) autobiography before joining the others.
Sharee keeps an eye on the door, bow at the ready.
So far it seems quiet enough. You are deep within the lair of Stormsailor but he seems busy with grander things than being a homebody and the servants in what you presume was his private kitchen are likely gossiping as they potter about... so far, so good.
Marcus opens the door and moves into the trophy room. Draco definitely seems to like to hunt and kill. The dragon, admittedly a young one, is impressive as a trophy. The unicorn seems excessive. The most egregious seems the mounted dwarf heads, which scowl down on you with fixed fierce expressions and glass eyes that glitter in the dim candlelight of the room.
Moving to the far door in the north room, he looks in.
The room is dim as well with a draped curtain shutting out most of the light from three windows. It seems empty, but the voices of men talking and laughing, as well as the sounds of combat, albeit minus the screaming, comes from beyond the single door on the west wall.
Moving in stealthily Marcus opens the curtains to let in more light.
This large room contams a huge and richly quilted bed, a table with four chairs, a number of tapestries, and a wardrobe closet. On the table is a full bottle of wine and two crystal goblets. The tapestries illustrate battle and sailing scenes in great detail, and feature prominently the exploits of a tall, black·bearded warrior with a "D" emblazoned on the front of his tunic.
"Smug ba@#$@$." Vothe said.
"Let's take him down a peg." he said then checked the closet for some boot black. Finding some, he makes the eyes in the painting look entirely too large.
Augar says some quick prayers to the Forge Father at the sight of the heads and growls.
"He'll pay for the mockery he has done here, those brave dwarves deserve a proper burial, they are not trophies, making this bastard as honorless as a GOBLIN!" Augar says unintentionally blurting out louder at the end than originally wanting.
Marcus is startled for a moment at the sight of the dragon, his heart thumping in his chest. He lets out an audible sigh when he realizes it's stuffed. He scans the room to make sure nothing in there is moving. He frowns and shakes his head in disgust at the sight of the dwarven heads.
"That's not right. No wonder he's so anxious to start a war. He needs to feed his blood lust. Men like that shouldn't be in positions of power. Everyone suffers," he says quietly as he passes through the room.
Once in the bedroom, he quietly moves over to search the nightstands.
Vothe gets to work defacing one of the tapestries while Marcus rummages through the night stands uncovering a book of woodcut images of sex and violence among personal effects such as a small silver pair of beard scissors and a container of beard and moustache oil. Straightening he notices something seems off with the tapestry against the wall near the night stand. He moves it aside to find a concealed door!
The locking mechanism is basic but hidden so it takes a little time to find the latch to open the door. Light from the windows helps illuminate the room beyond but it is still very dark.
Three chests are stacked at one end of this narrow room, and a small writing table and chair are at the far end. A piece of parchment is on the table... but light is needed.
Noises continue from the room next door.
With everyone else getting into the action, Ordrud looks for loot, too. He ignores the decoration to not waste time.
The Viking ends up looking through Draco's wardrobe while Marcus opens the door to the secret room.
The wardrobe closet contains a suit of plate mail , studded leather armor, and a dozen ornate sets of clothes. All of these are emblazoned with an elaborate letter "D".
He also finds a jewellery box. It contains assorted pieces of personalised gold jewellery. Hard to tell what it's worth but the heft of each of the rings, bracelets, wrist bands and necklaces is impressive. Could be a few hundred gold pieces in raw metal alone.
The wardrobe closet contains a suit of plate mail , studded leather armor, and a dozen ornate sets of clothes. All of these are emblazoned with an elaborate letter "D".
Ordrud pockets the jewelry box.
Then to kill time and entertain himself, the viking starts sabotaging the splint mail, so it won't fit. He removes the leather adjustment straps and damages fasteners, such that it needs to be Mended or fixed by an armorer.
A wide smile comes across Marcus' face as he finds the secret door. Once he gets the door open and sees how dark it is, he motions to Augar to come help him. Not wanting to make too much light, he pulls out a candle and his tinderbox to light it so he can see.
He starts searching the desk for information.
The single solitary note is written in a script that is hard to follow... if not impossible. It seems to writhe subtly in the candlelight.
The three study chests are all locked.
Marcus squints at the page, his eyes playing tricks on him. "I can't tell what this says but it seems to be magical. Just the kind of secret document we are looking for. Hopefully our friend has a way to read it," he says, as he carefully hides the note on himself.
He then tries to unlock the chests.
"Let's find out." said Vothe as she took the note and then used Comprehend Languages to try and read it.
Sharee continues to watch the door for signs of trouble.
"I can open the chests but ye won't like it and it'll make some noise."He says pulling out a tamping spike and his hammer.
Marcus leaves the letter to work on the chests.
Sharee stays in the bedroom scanning the door for trouble.
Vothe works on translation... he starts his spell.
Ordrud seems busy defacing the armour in the bedroom,
Augar comes over to look at the chest pulling out a spike and hammer.
CLICK!
Marcus turns pale and throws himself to one side... to no avail!
A stream of green gas pours out of the locking mechanism and starts to fill the room.
Constitution saves vs poison please!
Only Sharee and Ordrud are safe
Vothe grabbed Augar and drug him away from the chest.
Vothe and Augar manage to recoil in time, with Augars natural biology fighting off what little gas in inhaled.
Marcus got a face full of the gas and sucked it in deep. He has gone decidedly floppy. He's conscious, sort of, but unable to move.
After a minute the gas seems to have dissipated to a large degree though an offensive odour remains. Vothe can now use his spell to full advantage... his magic pierces the symbols and squiggling script and he can read:
"My dear Draco, future Duke of Rhoona,
The wheels are well in motion now. The timing of the 'when' for the pronouncement of war against the dwarves should be happening shortly I trust. As predicted there is little resistance apparent thus far from the populace. The slobbering idiot of a Duke will have only a short time left to reign when "he" declares this foolishness. The people will assuredly turn to you.
I am sure you must agree that my curse IS working admirably' Be alert: the moment for you to move is near!
Your faithful compatriot Xanathon High Priest of Cretia"
"Interesting. Looks like the High Priest has some questions to answer now too." said Vothe as he reads the letter aloud.
Augar checks over Marcus.
Augar checks over Marcus.
[dice=Medicine]1d20+3
He's some form of poisoned. Definitely alive but out of commission for now. You'd guess the poison was some form of paralytic. How long will it last? You've no idea.
After the gaseous entertainment, Ordrud will throw Marcus over his shoulder and gets ready to leave.
Chests are left unopened and are still locked.
The first is light (as far as heavy oaken chests go). It could be awkwardly moved - like a heavy footlocker. The second is extremely heavy. Likely containing coin given your experience and from the faint clinking. The third is much like the first. Awkward to move.
Augar can carry one of the two awkward ones. None of you can move the heavy one. Which one? Number one or Number three? Or none?
"Back up. I'll try this again." says Vothe, who takes Marcus' tools and tries the large, immovable chest once everyone else is out of range.
"Back up. I'll try this again." says Vothe, who takes Marcus' tools and tries the large, immovable chest once everyone else is out of range.
[dice=Thieve's Tools]1d20+3