"You will remain in your room until further notice." Jack says firmly, shutting the door once the mimic retreats.
"A problem for another time." He says somberly. "Pratchett is the real villain here."
"So do you think that he has replaced the mimic's people disposal abilities with that ooze you found out about?" Dora says with disgust. "Either way, let's move on before anyone does find us here."
You move on to the next room, by the stairs up. A huge wooden bed stands against the eastern wall of this room. In place of an ordinary headboard, the bed sports a guillotine’s scaffold complete with raised blade, though the scaffold’s track indicates that even if the blade somehow fell it would land safely behind a wooden guard separating the guillotine from guests’ pillows. A tattered and stained flag of red, white, and blue hangs on the southern wall—the flag of Galt.
Dora can detect a magic aura somewhere within the room.
"Well I guess that some guests like their themed rooms? Not sure that the guillotine would inspire restful thoughts though. Hmmmm...There is something magical in here. I just don't know what it is. Let's all look to see if we can find something - and beware of the furniture!"
She starts looking cautiously around the room in any drawers and cupboards around.
A few seconds after you enter the room, the door slams shut and locks behind you. The guillotine blade breaks free of its housing and lifts into the air!
It flies at Dora, slicing into her before coming around for another pass!
The Doctor moves quickly to flank the blade with Dora before lashing out with a pinpoint strike that breaks the glyph in two.
Jack quickly disables the glyph and the blade falls to the floor.
Searching the room reveals nothing else of value here.
Dora shrieks and rushes to put her back against the wall as Jack deals with the menace.
"I..I don't feel so good." Dora says with a small voice.
"Nothing to worry about." The Doctor says calmly, ripping a strip out of a sheet and bandaging Dora up with the ease of long practise. "Take a few deep breaths and you'll feel better in a moment."
Dani joins Dora in awe when the furniture starts speaking. She rubs her eyes and then leans over to Dora and whispers "I know I've had a little too much to drink before I cam here, but please tell me you hear the the chest speaking?"
After they depart and move on, she is somehow still surprised when they are attacked by the guillotine blade. "This is a house of horrors!" she exclaims, worried about Dora.
"Dora! Dora! Are you okay!" she says a little too loudly again. She asks "Can you make this go away like you did that devil?"
Meanwhile, she starts up a tune on her violin in case they need to bring it down the hard way. She picks up and flings a piece of the broken housing at the blade on to have it hit the wall since the object is already gone.
Devon holds Dani back. ”Jack’s got this one taken care of, honey. Save it for the next one.”
After taking a few minutes to bandage up Dora, you move to the next room. Glass icicles drape from the ceiling of this whitewashed, wood-paneled room. A large wooden wardrobe stands against the north wall, while a huge framed painting of an elegant, snow-covered castle hangs on the eastern wall over a bed heaped with furs.
Dani spots the hidden danger here. A hidden trapdoor in the middle of the floor is rigged to drop anybody who steps on it down a chute into the basement!
"Well that explains the ooze then." Jack says. He holds out a stick of chalk to Dani. "Mark it off, just in case someone gets sent up here or there are accidents."
He searches the room, carefully avoiding the trap door, just to be certain before nodding. "Let's move on."
Dora follows Jack's advice and takes a few deep slow breaths whilst he fixes her up.
"I'm alright Dani. Jack here is so skilled with his hands. I'll be better in no time."
Setting herself straight, she nods in agreement with Jack.
You don’t find anything else in this room. A large stone fireplace takes up the northeastern corner of the last room on the first floor, a comfortable reading room. Bookshelves line the walls, and overstuffed armchairs dot the floor in small knots to facilitate conversation. In the southwestern corner is a small bar with racks of glassware.
The thick stone of the northern and western walls are part of the building’s original foundation and thus look much older than the rest of the hotel. A search of the room reveals that the back of the fireplace houses a 6-inch-wide shaft leading downwards as well—something in the basement requires ventilation.
You could head back out to the foyer to look around there, though Ralso may still be there. Or you could head upstairs.
The Doctor arches an eyebrow but doesn't comment on Dora's... statement.
"Let's head upstairs, keep away from Ralso as long as possible." He suggests.
The twisting, dimly lit hallways on the hotel’s second floor are laid out even more eccentrically than those of the first floor, often rising or falling by a few steps for no apparent reason and with doors scattered seemingly at random. Only a few windows look out over the surrounding streets and buildings, and a few in the eastern wing look incongruously out onto the blank wall of a neighboring building just a few feet to the north.
The first room you come across appears to still be under construction, its walls unfinished and heaps of tools and sawdust scattered across the floor. A fanciful bed frame in the room’s center resembles a dragon-headed longboat made out of iron, while above a tattered tarp blocks light from pouring through an open skylight in the ceiling.
A search reveals gas pipes emerging from the floor and woven through the metal bed frame—the start of another trap, perhaps.
The doors to the next room are locked. You can hear muffled voices on the other side.
Jack bends down to the keyhole and listens intently, trying to deduce what is going on.
Jack can make out the voices. ”Somebody’s out in the hall. Remember the plan. I’ll act like I’m still chained up, and then you jump him when he comes in.”
“Got it. We’re busting out tonight!”
Jack repeats the conversation back to the rest of the group and then speaks through the keyhole.
"We are Agents of the Edgewatch. I will unlock the door, but do not resist. We will help get you out of here."
He waits a few moments and then sets to picking the lock.
Once the door gives he looks at the rest of the group, gestures for them all to stand back and then pushes the door open, sidestepping as he does so to avoid any assailants that may be lurking.
This tiled room is bare save for two sets of manacles hanging from opposite walls to the east and west, a nozzle like a showerhead on the southern wall, and a drain in the center of the floor. Red and brown stains streak the floor tiles, and the whole place reeks of filth.
A human man in a loincloth is manacled to one wall. He matches the description of the missing wizard Kemeneles. He appears emaciated and his body bears numerous fresh scars. A gnome woman lurks by the door, similarly starved and tortured. She matches the description for Lyrma Swampwalker. She grips a trident, a desperate rage evident in her eyes. ”How do we know this isn’t just another trick? Lure us into a false sense of security before Pratchett inflicts some fresh horrors on us? They’ve pretended to be rescuers before!”
"We have a list of missing persons from our boss that your names are recorded on." Dora says pulling out the list she has kept. "I believe, based on these descriptions, that you are Mr Kemeneles and you must be Ms Lyrma Swampwalker."
She holds up the document with the City Watch's official seal at the top of the page hoping that they can see it where they are.
"Kemeneles, we actually met your little apprentice who has been petrified about where you had gone. He was a fiery little fellow and was using all of his might to smash up a shop as he believed your arch-nemesis, the owner Marin, had something to do with your disappearance. Now, I don't think that Pratchett could have told you that?"
She takes a few tentative steps into the room aiming to be as non-threatening as possible.
Mentioning Kemeneles's apprentice seems to break him out of his rage. "Eunice? Oh, thank the gods, he's okay!" The man breaks down into rasping sobs. Lyrma Swampwalker lowers her weapon and sits heavily down on the floor, sobbing as well.
When they are able to compose themselves, they tell you their story. Both Kemeneles and Lyrma booked rooms at the Dreaming Palace before falling prey to Pratchett's machinations. For the last two weeks, Pratchett has kept them chained to opposite walls, experimenting with a variety of physical and psychological tortures designed to break their psyches. He has pumped hallucinogenic gas into the room to sedate them or put them into suggestible states.
A few hours ago, however, Pratchett made a mistake. After placing Lyrma’s trident between the prisoners and informing them that he’d let one of them go free if they killed the other, he left them there to stare at the weapon and mull over the prospect. Yet this time, he misjudged how much poison he needed to keep Kemeneles too sedated to cast spells. Emerging slightly from his mental haze, the wizard was able to use a combination of acid splash and mage hand to break free from his manacles, then did the same for Lyrma.
The terrified pair know little else about Pratchett, Ralso, or the inn's layout and are desperate for nothing more than to escape this hellhole.
"That is horrific, I am so sorry that you had to go through such torment." Dora responds softly with a furrowed brow.
"It is a good thing that we have found you and we promise that this Pratchett and Ralso will be severely punished by the city for this so they cannot do it to any others."
"We absolutely want to help you escape, but we also need to make sure there are no other prisoners up here, just like you. Do you have the strength to follow along with us whilst we check these other rooms?"
Dora hands her water flask and splits her mid-morning snack of nuts between them both to help fuel them with much needed nourishment.
The pair greedily consume the water and the snack. "No way in hell! Even if we were strong enough to fight, we just want to get the hell out of here!" Kemeneles says. Lyrma nods emphatically.
"Very well." The Doctor says. "We can get you out by a lower window and our colleagues will escort you to Edgewatch Precinct, you will get food and warm clothes there. We will have to take statements but the evidence here is overwhelming so it should not be an arduous process."
You help the prisoners escape through the window of the honeymoon suite, then head back upstairs and move to the next door. This one is also locked. Jack can hear Ralso's voice from behind it, apparently arguing with herself. "You have to go, Ralso. Come on. Just open the door! Just open the door!"
The Doctor takes out a rather worn lock pick and inserts it into the mechanism, before twisting it gently and then, with increasing force, wedging the second end into the mechanism as well - effectively jamming it.
"Hopefully this will hold Ralso in here for a while." He says quietly. "Let's move on."
Having jammed the door to Ralso's room, you move on to the next one. This dank room reeks of blood, likely thanks to several congealing, fly-covered buckets of the stuff around the chamber’s perimeter. Thick, stained carpets cover most of the floor several layers deep, and a similarly bloodstained pallet lies in one corner. Embedded in an alcove in the western wall is a three-foot-tall stone door with a peephole.
A horrid little man stomps around here. He stands only 3 feet tall, with a hunched frame, pointed ears, crooked teeth, and long, white, tangled hair. He wears iron-shod boots and grips an oversized scythe. "What's this? New victims come right to Nobbindale's room? Unorthodox, but Nobbindale's not one to complain." Grinning savagely, the creature brandishes his scythe!
It rushes over to Devon and tries to stomp on his foot. The champion steps back, managing to avoid the creature's scythe as it tries to trip and slice him!
Dora fumbles through her pockets and pulls out her wand.
"Drop your weapon" Dora commands, sounding more authoritative than usual.
"A redcap!" The Doctor says authoratively. "It's a fey, afraid of the divine and gains power from its bloody hat. Present your holy symbol before you strike!"
As he speaks the Doctor circles the creature, considering how best to strike at it. He eventually lances forward to pierce its shoulder.
This thing looks too dangerous to wait and see if it abides by Dora's command or not. Dani picks up an empty pallet and flings it across the room at the redcap. "On your knees!" she threatens before starting some musical accompaniment.
The redcap succumbs fully to Dora's command. As Dani clobbers it with a pallet to the back of the head, both Jack and Devon strike it with their blades. Devon presents his holy symbol, and the redcap quakes with fear. But all it can do is drop it scythe as Dora commanded!
Continuning her song, Dani looks at the pallet and picks it up again and hits the redcap on his left side with it.
Jack stabs at the creature once more before grasping its scythe and pulling it out of the creature's reach!
Devon jabs at the redcap again, landing one good hit. Couple with Dani's and Jack's strikes, the wicked fey goes down!
A search of the room reveals a few trophies--a vial each of oil of mending and oil of potency, along with a collection of several humanoid pinkies, all hidden beneath the room's filthy mattress.
Once the creature is down, Dani squees "Ooooh! Nice hit Devvy! Way to show it who's in charge!"
Turning Dora, Dani motions to the wand and says "You really owned that spell! Did you see how fast it complied! Well done, Dora!"
She then sets about searching hte room looking for anything useful. She motions to the pinkies, disgusted. "Humanoid fingers."
She makes sure they take the oils and motions to Devon, "Let's go."
Dora grins when it drops its weapon, proud of herself. Her grin widens further when Dani compliments her abilities.
"That was amazing - we're truly working as a team now!" Dora says with enthusiasm, not noticing how cringy it sounds.
She nods at Dani's suggestion, making sure not to peer at the fingers she was warned about.
"Devon, you better go first."
Devon flashes Dani a grin. "Thanks, honey. Jack helped set me up for a clean strike!"
The next room is decorated in black and gray, including gray drapes on a wrought-iron canopy bed. Smoked-glass windows and a single gas lamp cast the room in twilight, and in addition to a large iron wardrobe, the room features a torturer’s rack, manacles, and torture implements hanging from the wall. A sculpture of a flayed, eviscerated man is inset into the eastern wall, as if the wall were a thin membrane and the man were being pushed through from the other side.
A squat hidden door is set in the man's stomach. Likely, the redcap would have burst through to surprise anybody staying in this gruesome chamber. The room comes stocked with both a spiked chain and a whip.
You head to the last room in the east wing. Magical lights blaze as bright as the noonday sun on this room’s blue-painted ceiling. The tile floor is painted with leaves and branches, giving the impression of a room suspended in a jungle canopy. Plants drape down from alcoves along the tiled walls, fed by numerous trickling fountains that cascade down from high on the walls before disappearing into discrete grates in the floor. A large hammock hangs in the chamber’s northeastern corner, and various storage bags and boxes dangle from the ceiling on vine-like ropes.
Dani notices a trapdoor in this room, connected to a series of floor sensors. She and Jack also spot a giant snake snoozing in one of the hanging baskets in the room.
Putting her finger to her lips to signal quiet, she points out the snake and the floor sensors. She looks to Jack and whispers "Can you disable them quietly?"
If so, she will motion him back into the hall so she can cast guidance on him.
When Dora sees the snake, the colour washes from her face.
She still does not like snakes.
Dora backs slowly back out to the corridor, the way she came in putting as much distance between herself and the snake as she possibly can muttering under her breath as she goes.
"Why did it have to be a snake? Could've been a talking wardrobe, but no, it had to be a snake."
Dani pats Dora on the back, comforting her. "There, there, it will be fine."
Still, she frowns and crosses her arms "When I joined Edgewatch, they should have told me we would have so much work with animals and I would have prepared differently."
"I would suggest we leave the creature." Jack offers. "Those are complicated and we do not need to risk waking the creature. It cannot leave the room. Let us simply move on."
"Yes, yes let's move on. I think we have all the evidence we need against Ralso and Pratchett anyway."Dora says, purposefully turning away from the room.
You leave the jungle-themed room and head to the first room in the west wing of the second floor.
The walls of this furnished suite appear to be cut from enormous stone blocks and engraved with hieroglyphs. Two large windows on the southern wall overlook the lower roof and street outside. In the western corner of the room is an oversized bed, the frame carved to resemble a stone sarcophagus but containing an ordinary mattress. A huge stone lid is suspended above it from the ceiling by chains. Against the eastern wall is a fireplace with a fine stone mantle flanked on either side by two life-sized humanoid statues, one jackal-headed, the other with a falcon’s visage. The northern section of the room sports an oversized stone bathtub with gleaming pump handles.
This room sounds like the one the elf Lomo told Jack about. If he is to be believed, the statues in this room will animate to attack anybody who enters.
Looking to Dora, Dani asks "Dora, do you detect any magic in here?"
There are no magic auras here.
"If my... informant at the House of Planes is to believed the statues are golems." Jack says. "I propose that this is another room to leave well alone."
"Golems? Dani saks, shooting Devon a sidelong glance. "I don't want my beautiful baby's body destroyed on our wedding night. I'm fine with leaving it alone. I think we need to try and find any more prisoners and take care of Ralso and Pratchett."
Dora shakes her head and sighs at Dani. "Nothing magical either."
She scans the list of missing persons, running her finger down it as she goes.
"We still haven't found Anastatia Corvis, Archibald Knight and Minera Frum from the menagerie, the Dragonfly Masons and maybe the Sachta family from Jalmeray with twins."
She pauses for a second and concern sweeps across her face.
"You know, we found that dwarven family with the the two children in that bedroom previously? Should we have got them out? Maybe they're that family from Jalmeray - I hope no harm comes to them before we catch up with Pratchett."
"There's no way to know." Jack says, reassuringly (he hopes). "There have been a few customers who seem to be content and happy here. They are safe for now and we'd only make them afraid. All we can do now is move quickly to find Pratchett, then the ones who are safe can stay that way. We must move on."
As they move on he speaks over his shoulder. "Hopefully Ralso is still locked in her room. If we can deal with the proprietor I suggest we head back to the Precinct and bring every man we can to clear the hotel properly. We'll need more proof first though, to move the Lieutenant."